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REPORT 



ON THE 


MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE. 


\S> 


ANNAPOLIS: 

WM. McNEIR, PRINTER TO THE SENATE. 


1840. 






* 


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3 



ON THE 

MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 


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REPORT 


ON THE 


MANUFACTURE OF IRON; 

ADDRESSED TO THE 


GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND 


J 


BY 


•v 

J. Hf ALEXANDER, 


TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER OF THE STATE. 


PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE. 



BALTIMORE: 

FIELDINO LUCAS, Jr. 138 MARKET STREET. 


1840 








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MAS 26 igqg 

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PRINTED B 


BALTIMORE. 










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HIS EXCELLENCY, 

WILLIAM GRASON, 

GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND: 


I have the honor to lay before your Excellency, here¬ 
with, a Report on the Manufacture of Iron, with reference 
particularly to its extent and amount in Maryland. 


What has been here done, will much diminish the 
difficulty and labor of collecting, annually hereafter, such 
statistical facts as will keep pace with the progress of a 
branch of industry, which is continually increasing in 
importance to the State. 


I beg your Excellency to accept the assurances of my 
profound respect. 

J. H. ALEXANDER. 


Annapolis, 13 March, 1840. 


' 



































































. 






. 








* 


* 

























INTRODUCTION. 


The following Report is the fruit of a careful examination of 
several establishments for manufacturing Iron in Great Britain, 
performed during the summer and autumn of the past year, and 
of similar inquiries extensively made from establishments of 
the same kind in our own State. 

Its design was to exhibit the results which had been already 
attained in this department of productive industry, among our¬ 
selves; and also by the suggestion of advantageous and improved 
methods, employed elsewhere, but unknown or little used here, 
to contribute in some degree to its farther advancement. 

The work is divided into four Chapters : of which the first 
contains a sketch of the history of this manufacture through 
its successive periods. The question of its antiquity (which 
has been by all preceding writers assumed , on the one or the 



Vlll 


INTRODUCTION. 


other side,) has not been discussed, farther than to present the 
testimonies of the principal authorities that bear upon the 
subject. To do this, I have of course been obliged to refer to 
the ancient classical writers, and sometimes to quote their own 
words ; but, I hope, it will not be found that I have been led 
away into any minuteness of verbal criticism or affectation of 
literary research, inconsistent with the practical nature of the 
matter. The portion of this chapter which relates to the modern 
history of the manufacture, is merely a chronological arrange¬ 
ment of its progressive epochs, according to the best authorities; 
and the part relating to Maryland is supposed to be interesting, 
as shewing the very important relations which our State has 
already, in this regard, held to the manufacturing interests of 
Great Britain. I have been careful to append in notes, detailed 
references to the authorities which I have consulted: from the 
farther examination of which, any one, so disposed, may pursue 
the subject into more details than would have been suitable in 
the present sketch. 

The second Chapter contains a view of the geographical 
position and occurrence of the different ores of Iron, according 
to their respective uses and applicability, in a metallurgic sense, 
for manufacturing purposes. The present geological survey of 
Maryland enables me to give more accuracy and general interest 
to this view, (so fay as our own territory is concerned,) than could 
otherwise have been attained or expected. 

The third Chapter is devoted to miscellaneous particulars, (yet 
arranged with as much order and precision as could be used,) 
touching the materials and methods, which are applied in the 
different stages of manufacture. I have taken some trouble to 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


exhibit copious analyses of the ores, coals, &c. which enter into 
the primitive processes; and in this regard it may be looked 
upon as the depository of some valuable information, hitherto 
much scattered or not accessible. It was my purpose to have 
presented these particulars, as they relate in full to the prepara¬ 
tion of bar-iron, as well as the manufacture of crude or pig-iron; 
but I found, that to do this, would expand the size of the Report 
beyond either the present convenience of the writer, or perhaps 
the taste and patience of its readers. That portion is therefore 
reserved for another occasion. 

I look upon the publication of this part of the Report, as likely 
to be attended with desirable results in two ways: 1° the great 
facilities which exist for a cheap manufacture with mineral coal 
in the western part of the State, will be encouraged and advanced 
by more knowledge of the successful methods, which are uni¬ 
versally applied in the use of the same fuel, in Great Britain: 
and 2° the English manufactories, from the exhibition of favor¬ 
able results in this country from another fuel, may possibly be 
induced to employ the charcoal of wood, (which is in sufficient 
plenty to admit of much more extensive appliance than is now 
allowed to it,) in several processes; whereby we may expect 
the production of a better, and proportion ably a cheaper article. 

On the apparatus, and its modifications, for the hot-blast, I 
have not said as much as it would otherwise deserve, because 
an English translation has not very long since been made of the 
elaborate enquiry of a French Commission (in 1834, deputed to 
England) with regard to this very subject: and it has been 
rather my aim to furnish new and well verified facts, than to 
compile merely a resume of those, which had been observed, 
commented on, or published in such form as to be of easy 

access, before. 

B 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


The use of anthracite as the fuel for blast-furnaces, (which has 
long been of much interest to the proprietors of the fields of that 
sort of coal in Pennsylvania, and is lately becoming more so, on 
account of the reputed successes with a similar combustible at 
the Yniscedwin Works in S. Wales,) has not been discussed, 
because of its want of connection with the processes that are or 
can be employed in Maryland, where no anthracite occurs. It 
is presumed, that the principles which are laid down in the 
course of the Report, are equally applicable to all kinds of fuel, 
according to their respective constitutions; and that with an 
anthracite not presenting too much earthy matter in combina¬ 
tion, nor having the property of decrepitating into small frag¬ 
ments upon the application of heat, both of which are frequent 
occurrences, there would be no obstacle, with a suitable supply 
of air, in manufacturing hot-blast iron. Whether an economy, 
as great as that affirmed by Mr. Crane, will occur in the general 
average employment of this fuel, is a matter that cannot yet be 
judged of: and the quality of the iron so made, except inasmuch 
as it is reasonable to suppose the metal will partake of all the 
qualities, favorable and unfavorable, of hot-blast iron, is equally 
now to be left indeterminate. 

The fourth Chapter treats of the most important chemical 
phenomena which are observable in furnaces, and attempts to 
explain them upon correct and well recognized chemical princi¬ 
ples. As far as theory admits of practical application, it would go 
to diminish much of the irregularities and make up for the defi¬ 
cient production of many establishments, particularly in our own 
country. Almost the first step that was taken on this subject in 
England, (otherwise than the occasional references of scientific 
chemists,) was in 1819, by a man who deserves to be considered, 


i 


INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


in many regards, an extraordinary person. Samuel Rogers, (the 
name of this person,) a working-hand about one of the estab¬ 
lishments in Monmouthshire, had yet by some means acquired a 
very judicious comprehension of the aim and application of the 
science of chemistry; and several of the remarkable discoveries 
of the last fifteen years in this manufacture, are to be found, 
either in germ or more distinctly brought out, in certain letters, 
which during the year mentioned, he wrote and proposed to 
publish. There was reason to suppose that the effect of his 
views, if adopted, would have tended to equalize the propor¬ 
tionate products of establishments of different sizes, and possess¬ 
ing different natural advantages: but the interest of the large 
and favourably situated manufactories was not to encourage this 
equalization, or, as they thought it, rivalry; and, by temptations 
of whatever kind, Rogers was induced to give no more than his 
first three letters to the public. But a few copies of the work, 
as he had prepared it, still exist in manuscript; and one of 
these is now in my possession. Upon a careful perusal, I can¬ 
not but think that the Iron-masters over-rated the influence 
which the entire publication would have had; and Rogers was 
perhaps acute enough to come to the same conclusion. How¬ 
ever, it would have been unjust in any treatment of the same 
subject, to have withheld the honorable mention of himself and 
his work, which I have thought proper here to make. 

Connected with the objects of this chapter, is the assemblage 
of principles upon which may be based a classification of the 
different kinds of crude iron that are manufactured. I have 
pointed out all the well recognized distinctions that have led 
to the formation of existing classes, and, as far as could be, have 
endeavoured to shew how these and others (not perhaps so well 
known) may lead to a greater generalization. As an adjunct in 


INTRODUCTION. 


xu 

this purpose, I have alluded to some new researches, which I 
had made, before and during the preparation of this Report, upon 
the mechanical structure of crude iron, manifesting itself under 
a strong microscope. So far as I am aware, the examinations 
of this sort hitherto, have been, either, upon iron which was 
under chemical treatment, or, upon specimens fractured under 
loads, with the view of ascertaining the directions of the strains 
which had been operative: but neither case seems to have ex¬ 
tended itself to embrace the principles or features upon which a 
new classification could be founded, or the old divisions verified. 

The researches to which I have alluded, were made upon the 
assumption that solid bodies generally, in cooling from a state of 
fusion, tend to take a regular crystalline form, peculiar to each 
one respectively; and that in the case of a compound resulting 
from the union of different substances in the same mass, the crys¬ 
talline form, after fusion, varies according to the proportions of the 
several substances, and the degree of heat to which the}’’ have 
been submitted; so that the mechanical properties of such a com¬ 
pound will be manifested, in great measure, by the modifications 
of its mechanical structure. In the case of crude iron, which is 
a compound of the nature mentioned, it was expected that the 
peculiarities of structure would lead to a determination of the 
proportions of the combined impurities, of the measure of the 
imponderable agents, (heat, electro-magnetism, etc.) which had 
been active, of the nature of its mechanical accidents, (cohesion, 
stiffness, elasticity, etc.) and thus of the greater or less applicabi¬ 
lity of the same or different specimens, to the several practical 
purposes for which this metal is every day used. The interest 
attached to determinations of this kind, both among scientific and 
practical men, is well recognized. 


INTRODUCTION. 


X1U 


All the examinations which I have hitherto made, have been 
of an analytic character: it would be obviously premature to 
make deductions from them, before the other division (the syn¬ 
thetic experiments upon pure iron exposed to uniform heat in 
association with different substances) is complete. This is a labor 
yet to be performed; and I have therefore in this chapter made 
no further use of the results which I have obtained, than to 
refer occasionally to the different crystalline forms, which have 
exhibited themselves in specimens that have come under my 
inspection, and to point to their connection with the general 
classification that I have indicated. 

The part contributed by the blast towards the formation of 
crude iron, is of such importance that I have thought it neces¬ 
sary to be somewhat full and particular on this subject; and I 
have aimed, by the presentation of a new and carefully con¬ 
structed Table, to furnish means of satisfying several questions of 
interest in this regard, which could only be answered otherwise 
after a long calculation. 

In relation to the relative strength, and several other mechan¬ 
ical properties, of crude iron manufactured with hot-blast, I have 
taken pains to collect and exhibit in a series of Tables, the final 
results of the latest and best experiments which have been made 
for the determination of this disputed point. In view of the 
precautions employed, and the fullness of preparation and detail 
allowed, in these experiments, I think the results I have exhibited 
may be considered as bringing the question now within narrow 
limits. 

Finally, I have mentioned the several processes which have 
been devised in Europe for economizing the great proportion of 
heat which is lost in the ordinary construction of furnaces, both 
there and here; in the hope that the information may thus 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


command the attention of those persons to whom it will be very 
serviceable, and out of whose view it might otherwise have 
remained. One of these processes, in particular, has been adopt¬ 
ed in this State very generally, and to good purpose. There is 
reason to believe, that the others, properly understood and exe¬ 
cuted, would be attended with not less beneficial consequences. 

The Appendix contains certain particulars, of interest in a sta¬ 
tistical regard, and in illustration of points which had to be 
mentioned with less detail in the body of the Report. 



CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 1. 


HISTORICAL RESEARCHES INTO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 


Sec. 1. Ancient Testimonies. 

Invention of Tubal-Cain,. 

Use among the Midianites,. 

Architectural and demotic application among the Jews, 

Tempering of iron,. 

Error in the English translation of Jeremiah, 

Peculiar terms employed by the Prophet Daniel, . 
Traditions of the Egyptians, touching this manufacture, 
Vase of Alyattes the Lydian, ..... 

Scythian tradition,. 

Identity of Vulcan and Tubal-Cain, .... 
Greek traditions. 

The Dactyli,. 

Legend of Ithonus,. 

“ of the Cyclops,. 

“ of the Lemnian Vulcan, and of Prometheus, 

Testimony of Homer,. 

Origin of the term adamantine , .... 

Lycurgus,. 

Orphic testimonies, . . ' . 

Testimony of Pindar and Sophocles, . 

Mystic uses of iron,. 

Methods of working described by Aristotle, 

Probable application of pit-coal in Chalybia, . 
Celtiberian methods—co-incident with those in Japan 

parts of Great Britain,. 

Manufacture in Great Britain, .... 
Legend of Odin, .. 


PAGE. 

. 17 

ib. 
. 19 

20 

. 21 
22 
. ib. 

23 
. ib. 

24 

. ib. 

25 
. ib. 

26 
. 27 

ib. 

. 28 
ib. 
. 29 
ib. 

. 30 
32 


and 


33 

34 

35 






XVI 


CONTENTS. 


Sec. 2 


Roman traditions. 

Methods and applications described by Pliny, 
Serican iron—perhaps the modern wootz, 
Magnetic properties, according to Pliny, 

Legend of Dinochares and Arsinoe, 

Bronzing of iron,. 

Chain-bridge of Alexander, 

Brahminical legend of Apollonius of Tyansea, 
Etruscan remains, ....... 

Remarks on the Celtiberian and Chalybian methods, 

Beckmann’s explanation,. 

Holland’s explanation,. 

Farther interpretation, ... 

Invention of bellows,. 


87 

41 

42 
ib. 

43 
ib. 

44 
ib. 

45 

46 
ib. 

47 

48 


Modern History of the Manufacture. 

Manufacture in Styria, and Great Britain, 

Epoch of modern foundries,. 

Agricola,. 

Description of furnaces, ...... 

Cannon cast in England,. 

Sturtevant’s and Ravenson’s patent, for the use of pit-coal, 
Progress of the manufacture in Sweden, 

Middle furnaces,. 

Successful application of pit-coal, by Dudley, 

Introduction of wooden bellows,. 

Trompes or water-blasts,. 

Improvements in Sweden,. 

High-furnaces,. 

Use of peat by the Dutch,. 

Ray’s account of the methods in Sussex, 

Works of Neviamsko'i in Siberia,. 

Epoch of furnaces in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, 
Extension of the use of pit-coal in England, . 

Coalbrook-dale works,. 

Production of Great Britain in 1740, .... 

Invention of fan bellows,. 

Smeaton’s cast-iron bellows at Carron, .... 
Invention of the puddling furnace, .... 

Iron rolls,.' . 

Production of Great Britain at various epochs. 

Forge cinder,. 

Invention of the hot-blast,. 

Product in the United States,. 

Present number of furnaces in Great Britain, 

Statistics of the iron trade in Great Britain for several years 
Statistics of the manufacture in France, 

Statistics of products in Europe and America, . 


49 

50 

51 

52 

54 
ib. 

55 
ib. 

56 
ib. 
ib. 

57 
ib. 
ib. 

58 
ib. 

59 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 

60 
ib. 
61 
ib. 
ib. 
62 

63 

64 

65 

66 
68 


\ 




CONTENTS. 


XVII 


Sec. 3. Researches into the Manufacture in Maryland. 

Date of its introduction,.70 

British policy,.71 

Act of 23 Geo. II. ib. 

List of ancient furnaces in Maryland,.74 

Cannon cast during the Revolution,.82 

Existing furnaces in Maryland,.*- 84 

Method of regulating the blast at the Curtis creek furnace, 87 
Method of making charcoal at the Patapsco furnace, . 89 
Usual density of blast in Maryland, .... ib. 
Manufacture of iron with coal,.92 


CHAPTER II. 


METALLURGY AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 

OF 

THE 

ORES 


OF IRON. 





1. 

Native iron ,. 




95 

2. 

Meteoric iron, . 






Use by the Esquimaux, . 

• 


% 

97 


Thunderbolt of Jehanguire, 

• • 


• 

. 98 


Peculiarity of this substance. 

• 



ib. 

3. 

Magnetic iron ore, .... 




. ib. 


Modes of occurrence, 

• 



ib. 


Cause of the good quality of the Swedish iron, . 

• 

. 99 


Frequent occurrence in Maryland, . 

• 



ib. 


Constitution, .... 

• • 


• 

. 100 

4. 

Specular iron ore, .... 

• 


1 

ib. 


Occurrence and position, . 

• • 


• 

. ib. 


Red haematite, 

• 

. 

• • 

101 


Compact red iron ore, 

• • 


• 

. ib. 


Red ochre, .... 




ib. 


Constitution, .... 

• • 


• 

. 102 

5. 

Fibrous brown hcematite, 




ib. 


Occurrence and position, 

• • 



.“ ib. 


Compact brown hamatite, 




ib. 


Oolitic iron ore, . 

• • 


•• 

. ib. 


(Etites,. 




ib. 


Granular hydrates, 

• • 


• 

. ib. 


Bog iron ore, .... 




ib. 


Brown ochre, 






Occurrence in Maryland, 




103 


Constitution, . 

• • 


• 

. 104 

6 . 

Carbonate of iron, • 




ib. 


Varieties, sparry and lithoid, 

• • 

• 

• 

. ib. 


Norican iron, . 




ib. 


C 














/ 


• • • 

XV11I 


CONTENTS. 


Occurrence,.. • 104 

When first used in Great Britain, . . . 105 

Iron districts,.106 

Welsh basin,. ib. 

Staffordshire basin,. ib. 

Glasgow basin,.107 

Iron district in Maryland,. ib. 

Analysis of ores from Allegany county, . . 108 

7. Silicated iron ore ,. ib. 

Varieties and modes of occurrence, .... 109 

Chamoisite,.110 

Constitution,. Ill 

8. Titaniated iron ore, . ib. 

Occurrence and use in Maryland,. ib. 

Other localities. ib. 

Occurrence of Titanium in furnaces, . . . ib. 

Constitution,.112 

Other combinations of iron not applicable to metallurgy, . . ib. 

Franklinite of New Jersey,. ib. 

Tabular classification and view of the ores of iron, . . . 113 


CHAPTER III. 

MEANS, MACHINERY AND MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN THE 

MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 

Sec. 1. Blast Furnaces generally—their Location, Construction, etc. 

Peculiarities of construction in Wales and Staffordshire, . .115 

Peculiarity in Derbyshire,.117 

General principles of construction,.118 

Angle of boshes,. ib. 

Dependence on the fusibility of the ore, . . .119 

Diameter of trundle-head,. ib. 

Apparatus for charging, . . . . , .120 

Number of charges per turn,.121 

Means for delivering the materials at the charging place, . ib. 

Equilibrated water-system,.122 

Inclined planes,. ib. 

Motive power of the blast,.123 

Character of engines employed,. ib. 

Scottish blowing apparatus, . . . .124 

Proportion of power employed in the production of a 

ton of crude iron,.125 

Regulators,. ib. 

Their classification,. ib. 

Water regulators, ..126 











CONTENTS. 


XIX 


Number of tuyeres, and their influence upon the shape of 

the hearth,.126 

Position of tuyere-pipes,.127 

Tuyeres of different heights,. ib. 

Size of nozzles, . ib. 

Pressure of blast,.128 

Water-tuyeres,. ib. 

Results of experience as to the material of which they 
are made,. ib. 


Temperature of the blast, 

. 129 

Hot-air furnaces, 

. . . . . ib m 

Aspect of the tuyeres, 

..... 130 

Buildings about the furnace, 

• • • • • \t) • 

Top and cast-houses, 

• • • • • %t) • 

Tymp and tuyere arches, 

..... 131 

Quantity of cinder produced, . 

t * « • • xb • 

Cinder moulds, .... 

..... 132 

Pig-beds, .... 


Duration of a campaign or blast, 

• • • • • xb % 

Repairs and replacements, 

• « • • • xb m 

Tuyeres and tymps, 

..... 133 

Charging plate and in-walls, 

ib 

• • • • • 

Stopping up, ... 

..... 134 


Sec. 2. Cost of Construction and permanence of Blast Furnaces and their 

accessories. 

Cheapness of furnaces in Staffordshire,. 

Number of bricks required,. 

Cost of building materials,. 

Estimate of the average cost of erection, .... 
Table of wages in Wales, in 1833, from M. Dufrenoy, 

Table of wages in Staffordshire, in 1839, .... 

Table of w'ages in Wales, in 1839,. 

Table of the number of persons and their wages, requisite for a 
single establishment,. 

Sec. 3. Of the Materials used in Blast Furnaces , their method of extrac¬ 
tion and preparation, and their cost. 

Proportionate richness of ore in Wales, Staffordshire and Scot¬ 
land, ......... 

Extraction of ores,. 

Position of ores in Staffordshire,. 

Productive effect of one miner,. 

Roasting of ores,. 

Clamps,. 

Quantity of combustible in different places, 

Loss of weight,. 

Flux employed,. 

Chalk in Northumberland,. 

Limestone deposites in Staffordshire, .... 

• Cost of working,. 


135 
ib. 
ib. 

136 

138 

139 

140 

141 


143 
ib. 
ib. 

144 
ib. 
ib. 

145 

146 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 





/ 


XX 


CONTENTS. 

Limestone in Wales,.147 

Cost of extraction,. . ib. 

Limestone in Derbyshire,. ib. 

Chemical fluxes,.148 

Combustibles,. ib. 

Pit-coal,. ib. 

Tables of the constitution of some European coals 
employed in metallurgic operation, . . 149, 150 

Table of the constitution of dry coals in Maryland, 
employed in, or applicable to metallurgic operations, 150 

Analysis of fat-coals,.' 151 

Dry coals,.152 

Dry coals in Maryland.153 

Applicability of different kinds of coal to the blast furnace, 156 

Coking of certain kinds of coal,. ib. 

Analysis of coke prepared on a large scale, . . 157 

Generalities on the employment of coal, coked and uncoked, 158 
Comparative calorific effect of coke and charcoal, etc. ib. 
Table shewing the quantity of coke produced from 

several European coals,.159 

Radiating effect of coke and coal, .... ib. 
Comparative value of light and heavy coke, . . 160 

Aptitude of different coals for producing coke, . .161 

Methods of coking,. ib. 

Staffordshire mode,. ib. 

Cost of coking,.162 

Mode in Wales,.. 163 

Mode at Lonaconing,. ib. 

Mode in Scotland,.164 

Statement of the average cost of coke in the several 

districts,. ib. 

Employment of ovens,.165 

Cost of oven-coke at Le Creusot, . . . ib. 

General conclusions touching coke made in ovens and 

otherwise, . . • . . . .166 

Atmospheric air considered as one of the important materials in 

the manufacture of iron, .... 167 

Quantity by weight to make one ton of iron, . . . 168 

Table shewing the-averaged quantities and prices of the mate¬ 
rials and labour for one ton of crude iron, in 

Great Britain,.170 

Table shewing the same average in Maryland, .... 171 

Employment of oyster-shells as a flux, .... 172 

Employment of charcoal—its relations as to volume and 

weight,. ib. 

Table shewing the number of bushels and weight in 

pounds of charcoal, from one cord of wood, 173 

Different results of several experimenters in the case 

of oak wood,.174 

t 


V 



CONTENTS. 


XXI 


Causes of this difference,.174 

M. Karsten’s experiments.175 

Advantage of charring at a low temperature, . . 176 

Table shewing the chemical constitution of several 

kinds of wood applied to metallurgic uses, . ib. 
Conclusion as to the weight of the bushel of charcoal, . 177 
Absorption of moisture, . . . . . 178 

Average quantity of charcoal in Maryland for one ton of 
iron, compared with the consumption in other 

districts,.179 

Causes influencing a greater or less consumption, . . 180 

Table shewing the probable consumption of charcoal with 

different ores of iron,.181 

Manufacture of iron in Maryland with coal, .... ib. 


CHAPTER IV. 


PRINCIPAL CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN THE MANUFACTURE OF 

IRON. 


Sec. 1. Exemplification of the general Chemical Theory of Blast Furnaces. 

Classification of materials,.183 

Classification of products,.184 

Anagraph of composition and re-composition, . . . 185 

Constitution of materials,.186 

Table shewing the absolute elementary composition of the 

materials employed in a blast furnace using coal, . 189 

Constitution of products,.190 

Table shewing the absolute elementary composition of the 
products given from a blast furnace using coal, . 191 

Importance of analytic investigations in improving the quality 

of the metal,.192 

Proportions of foreign associations admissible in ores of iron, 

without injury,.193 

Silica, a necessary adjunct to effect fusion, . . . 194 

Binary, ternary and higher compounds, .... 195 

Limit to the application of lime, .... note, ib. 
Conclusions of M. Berthier,.196 


Sec. 2. Furnace-cinder—its Constitution and Phenomena. 

Analysis of furnace-cinder, ....... 197 

Phosphoric acid in cinder, . 198 

Cinder without lime,.199 

Difference in the composition of coke and charcoal cinder, and 

explanation of its theory,. ib. 




CONTENTS. 


Importance and uses of cinder in the operations of the furnace, 200 


Degree of fusibility of cinder,.201 

Order of fusibility of various silicates, . . . 202 

Consistency of cinder,. 203 , 

Desirable indications,. ib. 

Color of cinder,.204 

Classification as to aspect,.205 


Sec. 3. Characteristics and Constitution of the Metal produced , under 


various circumstances. 

Combinations met with in crude iron,.207 

Oxygen not met with,. ib. 

Karsten’s theory of white and grey crude iron, . . . 208 

Ordinary designations of different kinds of metal, . . . 210 

General classification,.211 

Physical characteristics,. ib. 

Distinctions of color,. ib. 

Crystalline form of grey iron, . . . .212 

Crystals of white iron,. ib. 

Granular white iron,. ib. 

Difference in specific gravity,.213 

Hardness,. ib. 

Extensibility,. ib. 


Cohesive force, according to several English observers, 214 

Resistance to crushing,. ib. 

Remark on Tredgold’s deductions from Rennie’s 

experiments,.215 

Karsten’s experiments,. ib. 

Suitability of white iron for columns, etc. . . ib. 

Adhesion,.216 

Capacity for heat,. ib. 

Point of fusion of crude iron, . . . note, ib. 

Contraction by heat, . 217 

Other substances showing similar phenomena, note, ib. 

Chemical characteristics,. ib. 

Table shewing the elementary associations of crude 

iron,.218 

Remarks of M. Berthier, as to differences in coke 

and charcoal iron,.220 

Proportion of carbon in the two classes, . . .221 

Table shewing the conditions of combination of carbon 

in the two classes of crude iron, . . . ib. 

M. Karsten’s theory of saturation with carbon, 222 

Carbo-saturation yet indeterminate, . . . 223 

Theory of Sehafhaiitl, as to classification, . . ib. 

Temperature at which kish is generated, . . 224 

Presence of aluminium,. ib. 

Paradigmn of classes,. ib. 



I 




CONTENTS. 


XX111 


Changes produced by heat upon grey and white crude iron, 225 

Sudden cooling,.226 

Slow cooling,. ib. 

Phenomenon of grey iron which cannot be converted 

into white,.227 

Peculiarity, in this regard, of iron made with charcoal, ib. 

Property of white-iron in becoming ductile at high 

temperatures,.228 

Magnetic and electro-magnetic properties of the two classes, 229 

Final inferences as to the influences of carbon upon 

magnetic intensity and permanence, . . ib. 

M. Scoresby’s scale of temper , as evinced by the mag¬ 
netism of steel, 230 

Analogous scale of carbon,. ib. 

Application of the crystalline form, to determine the 
degree of temperature at which the metal was 

produced,. ib. 

General conclusions as to the influence of the so-called 

imponderable agents,.231 


Sic. 4. Gaseous Materials and Products , accompanying the formation of 

Crude Iron. 

Considerations as to the quantity of air supplied, . . . 232 

Proportions of combination between the oxygen of the blast 

and the carbon of the combustibles, -. . 233 

Rule for finding the supply of air proper for any charge of 

combustible,.234 

Same rule for charcoal or coke, respectively, . . . 235 

Application to an actual case,.236 

Considerations as to the density of the air supplied, or the 

pressure of the blast,.238 

Method of ascertaining the density in American furnaces, . ib. 

Method in Wales,. ib. 

Causes influencing condensation,.239 

Table shewing the velocity and quantity of discharge of air 

from a reservoir, subjected to various pressures, 240 

Applications of the table,.241 

Determination of quantity in any case, . . . _ ib. 

Determination of pressure, and the proportions of 

tuyeres,.242 

Mechanical effects due to density of the blast, . . 243 

Chemical effects,. ib. 

Proportion of oxygen in air of different densities, . 244 

Practical deductions as to the propriety of a greater volume 

or greater density of the blast, in certain cases, 245 
Effect of the nitrogen of the atmosphere, . . . 246 

Considerations as to the temperature of the blast, . . . ib. 

Effects on the working of the furnace, .... ib. 

Theory of the saving of fuel by hot-air, .... 247 


XXIV 


CONTENTS. 


Theory of the diminution in the blast by hot-air, . . 248 

Practical exemplifications in both cases, .... 249 
Statement of the economy of combustible in the use of 

hot-air in several establishments, . . 250 

Limit of temperature,.251 

Effect upon the metal produced by heated air, . . 252 

Analytic differences in chemical effect, . . . 253 

Synthetic differences,.254 

Means of producing white iron .... ib. 
Differences in physico-mechanical effect, . . ib. 

Table shewing the absolute and relative cohesion 
in hot-blast and cold-blast iron, respectively, 255 
Table shewing the ratio of respective cohesion and 

stiffness in hot and cold blast iron, . . 356 

Table shewing the transverse strength of hot and 

cold-blast iron, respectively, .... 257 
Considerations upon this subject derived from inspec¬ 
tion with the microscope, .... ib. 
Constitution of the gaseous products of the blast furnace, . 258 

Results of analysis,.259 

Functions of different portions of the stack, . . 260 

Use and application of the gaseous products, . . . 261 

Heating the blast,. ib. 

Carbonization of the fuel and roasting the ores, . . 262 

Working the steam engine,.263 

Quantity of heat required for furnace object, . . ib. 

Re-melting the metal:— 

Quality of metal melted in the way yet to be examined, 264 
Appendix, . 265 



REPORT 


ON THE 


MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 


CHAPTER I. 

( 

Sec. 1 . Ancient History of the Manufacture of Iron, 

The traces of reference to the Manufacture of 
Iron, in the history of times anterior to our era, are 
so dim, as with some persons to have justified the 
opinion that it was almost or entirely unknown. 
Without attempting to discuss the grounds of this 
opinion, which involves questions of literal criticism 
out of place here, it will be sufficient for the pur¬ 
poses of this chapter, to collect and exhibit such an¬ 
cient Testimonies as relate to the subject; leaving the 
reader to determine after perusal, whether the terms 
which we translate Iron or Steel , are to be considered 
as really signifying these metals, and to estimate the 
probabilities that a Material and Manufacture so im- 
3 



18 


portant, found too as it is now among nations, who 
are certainly not to be considered civilized in the 
modern acceptation, would have been for so many 
ages in abeyance. 

In the oldest book that we possess, the Sacred 
Writings of the Jews, this metal and the uses of it 
are frequently mentioned : and its invention is at¬ 
tributed at a very early date, (about six hundred 
years after the Creation of man) to Tubal-Cain, the 
seventh in descent from Adam, (Gen. iv. 22.) 1 
The Books of Moses, the latest of which is sup¬ 
posed to have been written 1451 e. c. mention 
also many times elsewhere the metal iron. In the 
book of Numbers, (xxxi. 22,) is an enumeration of 
six metals,—Gold, silver, brass, iron , tin and lead,— 
as being a part of the spoils of the Midianites. 

In the Book of Job, (xxviii. 2,) which in all 
probability ante-dates any other writings of those 
scriptures, it is specially affirmed that iron is ex¬ 
tracted from an earth or Ore . 

The precaution of the Philistines in prohibiting 
any ‘smith in Israel, 5 is noted in the first book of 
Samuel, (xiii. 20,) the date of which is probably 
1050 b. c. and it may be remarked that the same 
word is used in this passage and translated sharpen , 
as was before by Moses applied to Tubal-Cain: 

i Hassenfratz makes the meaning of Tubal-Cain: celui qui fait des scories 
de Fcr. He dates Tubal 1057, a. m. But this is on the reading of the lxx. 



19 

hence it may be inferred that in the lands of the 
Philistines, there were persons capable of working 
through all the processes of Iron-making. In less 
than eighty years afterwards, the magnificent prepa¬ 
rations of David, for the erection of the first temple, 
included ^cunning workmen to w r ork iron,’ and men¬ 
tions particularly the ‘iron for nails in the doors of 
the gates and for the joinings; 5 which metal it is also 
said was in such abundance, that no account had 
been thought necessary to be submitted to the King, 
of it, as of the more precious metals. 

The extent to which this metal was used, was no 
doubt much more limited than at present; as also the 
modes of its application. Dr. Lowth concludes from 
a passage in another of the Jewish scriptures, the 
prophetic writings of Amos, (vi. 12,) that the shoe - 
ing of horses was unknown at that time; about 
790 b. c. I confess that* I do not coincide in the 
conclusion, although it is very likely, in regard to 
another passage that he quotes (Judges, v. 22,) that 
at that earlier date, (about 1300 b. c.) the shoe¬ 
ing of horses with iron was unknown ; especially 
as within the recollection of many persons, the prac¬ 
tice was by no means of universal adoption in our 
own country. Indeed, Beckmann dates their in¬ 
troduction into England only at the period of the 
Norman conquest; when it is known the city of 
Northampton was given as a fief, whose tenure was 
the shoeing of the Conqueror’s horses. The same 


/ 


20 


writer also derives the title of the family of lord 
Ferrers, (whose coat of arms still bears six horse¬ 
shoes) from the circumstance of the first who bore 
the name being the superintendent of the Ferriers or 
Farriers; the etymology of whose trade-name is 
from the iron (in Latin ferrum) they made use of. 

To return, however, to the Jewish writers: the 
prophet Isaiah, about 700 years b. c. mentions the 
uses of this metal in several places. In particular a 
passage, (xliv. 12,) has been thought, (though I do 
not concur entirely in the inference,) to imply the 
converting process of Steel , or at least the hardening 
of Iron and quenching of it in water, as called by 
professor Tychsen. In regard to this passage, I 
shall only introduce here the remarks of the author 
just mentioned, from his annotation in Beckmann; 
because they also serve to carry us on in our chrono¬ 
logical review of the ancient Hebrew Writers. ‘It 
may/ he says, ‘be translated otherwise/ i. e. than as 
referring to steel, ‘but it certainly alludes to the for¬ 
mation of an image of metal. The words in chap, 
liv. 16, are still more general. Iron (barzel) often 
occurs, and in some.passages steel may be understood 
under this name. For example, in Ezekiel, (xxvii. 
19,) ferrum fabrefactum ; or according to Michaelis 
and others, sabre-blades from Usal, (Sanaa in Ye¬ 
men.) A pretty clear indication of steel is given in 
Jeremiah, (xv. 12.): iron from the north , which is 
described there as the hardest. To the north of 


21 


Judea was situate 2 Chalybia, the ancient country of 
steel. It appears that the Jews had no particular 
name for steel, which theyperhaps comprehended 
under the term barzel, or distinguished only by the 
epithet northern; especially as the later Jews have for 
it no other name than istoma; which, however, is 
nothing else than the Greek *rstomoma, and 
signifies rather steeling or hardening .’ 

I will only remark on the passage of Jeremiah, that 
a slight error has crept into our English version; 
and the word which is rendered steel , is in Hebrew 
the same which elsewhere is used to signify brass. 
Luther, Diodati, and the Clementine Vulgate have 
all translated it brass. 

From Ezekiel (who wrote 574 b. c. and about 
14 years later than Jeremiah,) I shall quote a single 
phrase in addition to that already adduced. The 
prophet says (xxii. 20,) ‘they gather—iron—into the 
midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt 
it.’ This comes nearer the idea of a blast-furnace for 
reducing iron than any other expression I have yet 
met with in those writings. It is probable that it 
would be such a furnace or foot-blast, as we are told 
are used by the Cingalese; about which Dr. Davy 
has given us an account, and a mention and drawing 
of which Mr. Hebert’s Encyclopaedia presents under 
the article Iron. 

2 There has been some confusion as to the position of this country. D’An- 
ville places it in a part of ancient Pontus; Justin, the abbreviator of Trogus, 
states it to have been in Spain. The subject will be taken up hereafter. 


22 


The latest Jewish writer to whom I shall refer is 
the prophet Daniel, who may be placed about 535 
b. c. By every other author the same word before 
mentioned (bcirzel) is uniformly used to signify iron: 
in his writings he uses the words perzel and perzela. 
Although the lexicographers derive these words 
from different roots, I apprehend the change from 
one labial to another (a little more aspirated) is 
not greater than could have been expected to arise 
in a removal from the low-country of Judea to a 
long residence among the mountains of Khusistan. 
It is very possible that from these words may have 
been taken the Latin ferrum , having the same 
signification. 

The other nations of antiquity coeval with the 
writers whom I have quoted, the Ethiopians, Egyp¬ 
tians, Assyrians, etc. have left no accessible records 
to be consulted on this subject. All that can be 
known of them is to be found in the ancient lite¬ 
rature of Greece and Rome, and especially the 
former. I shall pursue the same course, as with 
the Jewish writers, of giving the Testimonies of 
several authors in the order of their respective dates. 

Herodotus, about 445 b. c. and a century later 
than the prophet Daniel, in speaking of Sethos, 
(Euterpe c. 141,) an Egyptian king, that reigned 
about 745 b. c., calls him a priest of Vulcan or 
Hephaestus, who is generally considered in all my- 


23 


thologies the representative of the Inventive Spirit 
in the manufacture of Iron. In another place (Clio, 
c. 25) he speaks of a curiously inlaid saucer or vase 
of iron presented by the Lydian Alyattes, the father 
of Croesus the Rich, about 600 years b. c.; and 
its manufacture is attributed to one Glaucus, of 
Chios. The same vase is mentioned and a minute 
account given of it by a later writer, Pausanias, 
who flourished about 170 years after our era: and 
the discovery of welding iron is likewise affirmed 
to belong to the same Glaucus. 3 Herodotus also 
elsewhere (Melpom. c. 62,) speaks of a sword, 
worshipped from the remotest antiquity by the Scy¬ 
thians. Mr. Beloe and Mr. Gibbon, both call it an 
iron sword or cimetar upon the authority of the 
historian; though I do not find that in that place 
he expressly affirms it to be iron . 

Diodore of Sicily, a Greek writer, flourishing 
about 45 b. c. has treated of this same subject— 
the antiquity of the arts among the Oriental nations. 
He affirms it (Lib. i. c. 15) to be the Egyptian tra¬ 
dition, that Isis and Osiris, the children of Saturn and 
Rhea, who reigned in very remote times, perhaps 
1830 b. c., were the first patrons of Metallurgy. 

The same tradition, however, ascribes its actual 
invention to Hephaestus or Vulcan, a king who 
preceded Osiris; and who, as said before, bearing 
the same name and offices in every mythology, may 


3 Paus. Phocic. c. xvi. 




24 


well be supposed to have been identical with the 
Tubal-Cain of the Jewish scriptures. 4 

In descending to periods somewhat later than 
these> and referring to the Greek writers for the 
traditions of their own country; they will be found 
to mount to a very high antiquity in the date of 
this Invention. Sophocles; nearly the co-temporary 
of Herodotus; is quoted by Strabo as affirming that 
the Dactyli; a family who lived upon Mount Ida 
in Crete; were the first discoverers of the art of 
smelting Iron. 5 The same thing is averred by Dio- 
dore of Sicily; (lib. v. c. 64;) and the probable date 
is assigned by chronologists of 1400 years b. c. 
when it occurred. 

Much confusion exists with regard to these Dac¬ 
tyli:—some making them to be the nurses of Jupi¬ 
ter; when he was hidden by his mother to keep 
him from the barbarity of his father Saturn;—others; 
priests of Cybele ; or Rhea; or the Earth; at a period 
long subsequent to the birth of Jove. Also they 
are placed sometimes upon Mount Ida; in Crete; 
as already mentioned;—sometimes in the Creto- 
Idaean district of Arcadia in the present Morea;— 
and sometimes in Phrygia. So their number even 
is variously stated. Pausanias who names them 
(lib. vii. 4;) makes but five —others make them 
ten ; and both from the number of fingers (in Greek 
dactylos) on one or both hands. They are called 


4 Calmet. ad voe. 


6 Strab. x. c. 3. 


25 


twelve by others—and are even magnified into one 
hundred and three hundred. Mr. Faber has how¬ 
ever discussed this, which has not much to do 
with the present subject, in his dissertation on the 
Mysteries of the Cabiri. 

A much later author, Lucan, who died 65 years 
after our era, refers in his Pharsalia (1. vi. 398, 
etc.) to the old tradition of Ithonus, the son of 
Deucalion, as the first worker in Iron. This is 
subsequent of course to the Deucalionic deluge, 
which may be taken at 1500 b. c.; but would 
date somewhat earlier than the discovery of the 
Dactyli just now mentioned. The two stories are 
not necessarily inconsistent: the processes of Ithonus 
appear to have been more systematic, and to have 
sprung from traditions of the antediluvian Bene¬ 
factors ; while the invention of the Dactyli is stated 
to have been accidentally made during an extensive 
fire on Mount Ida, which, originating from lightning, 
was so lasting and intense, as to have melted the 
iron ores in the soil beneath it—a tradition the 
same as that which accounts for the name of the 
Pyrenees 6 from a similar fire, which smelted the yet 
untouched ores of silver in that Mountain-chain. 

Ten years after Lucan, the Elder Pliny (Hist. 
Nat. vii. 56) refers the discovery, upon the autho¬ 
rity of Hesiod, one of the oldest Greek writers, to 
the Idaean Dactyli; but the diverse processes and 

6 Diod. Sic. t. v. 35. 

4 


26 


arts of manufacture, he in the same place attributes 
to the Cyclops, the workmen of Vulcan, 

•i 

A mythic tradition, of older date than the autho¬ 
rities cited, refers the discovery to the god Vulcan; 
and another to the Egyptian or Scythian Prome¬ 
theus : but these are not entitled to the respectabi¬ 
lity of historic accounts. Only, it may be remarked 
that the fable of the Lemnian Vulcan, being thrown 
from heaven by Jupiter, may have had foundation 
in the actual fall of Meteoric Iron—whose consti¬ 
tution renders it more malleable than any merely 
cast-iron would be, and whose use we find actual, at 
the present day, among the Esquimaux, a people not 
more civilized than were the Greeks in the time of 
Ithonus. With regard to the agency of Prometheus, 
who is said to have brought fire and its uses from 
Heaven, and bound to a rock, expiates through an 
almost infinite period the rashness of his success, its 
connexion with iron-making is obscure: it is much 
more likely that the origin of the fable should have 
been a corruption of some patriarchal tradition of 
the real mysteries of the Christian Redemption. 

However originating and by whomsoever first 
worked, the mention of the metal, Iron, as in actual 
use and affording images of comparison and epithets, 
occurs in the earliest Greek writers. Homer, the 
oldest of them, who is placed by the Arundel Mar¬ 
bles at 907 b. c.. introduces Achilles, in the funeral 


27 


games of Patroclus, 7 as offering a prize of a large 
mass of iron—so large indeed that the Hero says 
‘no husbandman need, with that, want Iron in any of 
his rural pursuits for five years, either for ploughs or 
for weapons. 5 The expression, *ur«xowvos, which the 
scholiast of Eustathius explains to mean c melted only 
i. e. without refining or hammering, I once thought 
inferred a meteoric origin for the mass. In another 
passage, 8 the plunging of Ulysses 5 firebrand into the 
eye of Polyphemus is said to have been, like a piece 
of Iron dipped by the smith into water, in order to 
give it its strength. 

Besides these passages, which are the most direct 
warrant for the existence of Iron in Homer’s time, 
(and indeed for three centuries before, when we con¬ 
sider his remarkable freedom from anachronisms,) 
the word Iron is often employed (as for instance 
Odyssey xxiii. 172) to express moral qualities, ana¬ 
logous to the well known physical properties of the 
metal. 

Hesiod, who flourished about the same time with 
Homer, also uses the epithet in the same manner as 
in the line of the Odyssey referred to. He also 
speaks of Iron in one place 9 directly, though not by 
the usual words—calling the Helmet of Hercules 
adamantine: which epithet, subsequently applied to 
mean precious stones, was at first used only to mean 
Iron or Steel. Mr. Holland, in his treatise on the 


7 Iliad xxiii. 826, etc. 


8 Odyss. ix. 391. 


9 Scut. Here. x. 137. 


28 


Manufacture of Metals (Cab. Cyclopasd. xxiv. p. 
10,) seems to have overlooked this; when he asserts 
that Hesiod has no where used it except figuratively. 

Nearly cotemporary with Homer and Hesiod was 
Lycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, whose iron money, 
as mentioned by Plutarch (in vit. c. ix.) I see no 
reason for supposing to be any other metal than what 
it is there called. The Biographer further mentions 
the resort to vinegar (which was prescribed for poli¬ 
tical purposes) to destroy the stomoma (which here 
signifies ductility, or in general Elasticity) of the 
metal, and thus render it inapplicable to any other 
purpose than a mere symbol of credit. This quite 
superfluous refinement may serve to convey an idea 
of the then state of the art: to which, the individual 
who first afterwards restored the stomoma that had 
been destroyed, stands in the same relation as the 
discoverers and patentees of the method of using 
Forge cinders in the high furnace, do to the Metal¬ 
lurgy of 1820-30. 

Not quite three centuries later than Lycurgus, 
come the poems attributed to Orpheus—which, if 
really belonging to him, would antedate Homer by 
nearly four centuries. I have preferred to entertain 
the doubts of Aristotle, and to assume the latest 
period which has been assigned to the supposed 
author. In the poems called Lithica 10 he mentions 
expressly the ore Siderite , or Oreite; which he 


,0 Lith. xi. 17. Tauchn. 355. 1. Gesner. 


29 


accompanies with such epithets as of all the metals 
could belong only to iron. 11 

In another of the Hymns (Ixv.) to Mars, he 
applies to the god the epithet adamantine , which 
Hesiod had already used to mean Iron. 

Nor was this acceptation of the term lost, when, 
more than a century after, Pindar (who may be sup¬ 
posed to have written about 475 b. c.) used it 12 as 
applied to a plough. I do not remember to have 
met with the proper word for Iron, in his poems. 

The narrative of Herodotus, about 30 years later, 
as to the Vase of Alyattes, has been already referred 
to. So also (Polymn. c. 69,) he speaks of Iron 
heads, to lances and arrows: which were in the 
Homeric times more frequently, I believe, brass or 
copper, as Lucretius has already expressed it: 

Et prior erat ceris quam ferri cognitus usus. 

And Brass was known and used before was introduced Iron. 

Sophocles, who died about 406 b. c., uses 13 the 
same comparison which we have just seen in the 
Odyssey—the hardening of Iron in water. From 
another place 14 we may infer, that the then state of 
the arts had warranted a special name to be given to 
heated or red-hot masses of Iron: although the term 
there used may have been a mystic, not a metallurgic 
one—it being introduced in speaking of the same 
trial or purgation, by carrying masses of red-hot iron, 

See also Hymn, xxxviii. to the Curetes. 13 Ajax Flagell. 1. 665. 

12 Pyth. Od. iv. 1. 398. HAntigon. 1. 270. 


30 


success in which was thought, in those early times, 
as fifteen centuries later, to belong only to Innocence. 

- • 

Finally, in the same tragedy to which I first referred 
1. 836, the poet uses the phrase ‘iron-devouring 
whetstone, 5 in making Ajax speak of his sword—the 
sword of Hector—which had just been sharpened 
for his meditated suicide. 

Aristotle, whose death may be placed about 322 
b. c., introduces the mention of this metal in several 
places, among which I shall cite particularly only 
two or three. 

In his book entitled Meteorologica, he enters 15 
into an explanation of the causes of solubility and 
insolubility in general; and particularly applies it to 
iron, which he characterizes as most difficult to be 
affected by heat, and not at all (in this sense) by 
moisture. The whole passage, though not exactly 
in accordance with chemistry more modern, yet 
serves to shew that he had opportunity of making 
experiments upon the identical substance, Iron. 

In the preceding chapter of the same book, he 
enters into more detail concerning the manufacture: 
and says, that ‘in the working of Iron, it melts upon 
the application of heat, and again becomes hard : in 
this way they make (^ufxxra) pure iron 5 —a word 
which I give in the original, because I shall have 
occasion again to refer to the term. 

‘For the scoria or impurities by these means are 


18 Meteorol. 1. iv. c. 7< 


31 


deposited ; and by frequent meltings and remeltings 
the material becomes pure, and its to^tm is produced. 
These successive meltings, however, are not made 
too often, for they are always accompanied by a loss 
of weight on the purer article. But that iron 5 he 
adds ‘is the best, which requires the least refining. 5 

In the next sentence, and apparently as if its 
connexion with iron suggested it at that moment, 
he speaks of a stone, called in his language, pijri- 
machus: whose nature is more fully explained in 
the next passage I shall quote. 

This is from his book (de Mirabil. auscultat.) of 
Remarkable Accounts, 16 and I shall translate it in full. 

‘There is said to be a method of manufacture 
peculiar to the Chalybian and Mysian (or Amisenic) 
Iron. The ore is obtained among the sands of the 
rivers and their tributaries: 17 which some say they 
merely wash and put in the furnace; while others 
report, that they put along with it also the earthy 
and other particles, which have been by repeated 
washings separated from the mine, and reduce all 
together—throwing in at the same time the stone 
pyrimachus , as it is called, of which in that region 
there is great abundance. 5 

This passage requires no further remark at present, 

16 Opp. tom. i. p. 1153. E. Ed. Paris, 1619. 

1 7 1 give here the original that every one may translate it for himself: 
Taurrjv 8s ol /josv awrXw^ (pac* 1 <ttXu vtxvrccg xafjwvsusjv* 0 ) 8s ttjv 
vtfogxiriv ty]\j ysvojtASv^v sx ty }5 tfXuo’Swj tfoXXaxig < rXv$si 0 'av tfuyxaisiv 


32 


than that it helps to clear up the obscurity, which, I 
before observed in a note, hung about the country of 
the Chalybes. The claim of this people, who with 
some authors carry their antiquity back to the time 
of Abraham, to be considered the discoverers of the 
method of working Iron, rests upon such foundation, 
that it was not thought worth while to advert even 
to it. But that they very early, and at least before 
the time of Aristotle, did manufacture it, there is no 
doubt. Some modern writers, among whom may be 
mentioned Hassenfratz and perhaps Landrin, have 
placed them, upon the authority of Justin 18 mainly, 
and Pliny, in Spain, upon the river Cobe. D’Anville, 
upon the authority of Strabo, 19 locates them in ancient 
Pontus, or part of modern Armenia, ‘in the deep 
vallies and precipitous mountains, still called Keldir.’ 
The corrected reading of the passage of Aristotle 
just now given (viz. Amisenic for Mysic) confirms 
this view—the Amisenic bay in the Euxine Sea 
forming in fact the northern boundary of this Chaly- 
bia, and furnishing its out-port. But what I appre¬ 
hend would establish it beyond a doubt, is the 
mention, not before noticed, so far as I am aware, of 
the stone Pyrimachus (q. d. fire supporter.) This, 

I take to mean nothing else than Bituminous Coal: 
and the occurrence or non-occurrence of this article, 
in the respective countries, to be a geognostic proof, 
either favorable or adverse. It w T ould have required 


18 Just. xliv. 3. 


W Lib. xii. c. 3. 


33 


researches, not otherwise justified in this Report, 
(even if the present state of our geological records 
would have at all furnished the information,) to have 
ascertained the presence of bituminous coal in Ar¬ 
menia; the existence, however, of bituminous springs 
and lake-like deposites, as also of salt, well ascer¬ 
tained, would indicate a proximity, at least, to coal- 
measures in that region; while, as far as the exact 
position claimed for the Chalybes, in Spain, can be 
made out, there is no likelihood of coal having ever 
occurred. This subject, however, I leave now for 
others to examine. 

Passing over three centuries from Aristotle, we 
find in Diodore of Sicily, 20 a mention of a peculiar 
method of manufacture among the Celtiberians, in 
Arragon; which was ‘to bury rods of Iron in the 
ground, and leave them until in time the rust should 
eat out all the weaker particles of the metal, and 
leave only the strongest and purest. Out of this so 
prepared, they manufacture their excellent swords 
and other arms: these swords in particular are so 
keen, that there is no helmet or shield, which cannot 
be cut through by them. 5 

I leave here the strict chronological order to 
remark, that Plutarch, who died about a. d. 140, 
gives the same account of the same people’s manu¬ 
facture. This is, in fact, a method still pursued in 
Japan; and is given by Swedenborg as one way to 

so Lib. v. c. 33. 

5 


34 


prepare steel. 21 I insert in a note 33 the remarks of 
Mr. Holland on this subject. 

The last Greek author, whom I shall cite, is 
Strabo; who, dying about a. d. 25, may be con¬ 
sidered as bringing the testimonies down to our era. 
He speaks 23 of the great quantities of ore, which 
had been extracted from Chalcis and Euboea,—the 
property of the Athenians. This had been carried 
on to such extent, and so long, that the mines were 
beginning to be exhausted. 

The same author speaks 24 of the iron, furnished 
by Great Britain to the Romans. The introduction 
of the art in that island is attributed, and perhaps 

21 See Beckmann: iv. 242. 

2 2‘Whatever may be thought of the idea of converting Iron into Steel, by 
interring it for any given period, a belief that the metal acquires tenacity by 
such a course, obtains among the workers in these metals generally; and 
more especially was this the case formerly. Certain of the old Sheffield 
cutlers, who had credit for making first rate articles in their day, were in the 
habit of placing bundles of steel in the mud of some water course for a few 
weeks; by which means, the metal was alleged to be much improved in 
quality. And it is common for Scissor-smiths, when they get steel that has a 
tendency to break on the punching of the hole for the formation of the bow, 
to place it in a damp cellar for a few weeks; by which treatment, having 
rusted considerably, it generally becomes fit for use. 

But however Steel may improve in quality, it loses much of its weight by 
oxidation; hence in the vast quantities that are exported to America from 
this country, it is not only customary to wrap the bundles in rope-paper, and 
place them in boxes, but actually to oil every bar; in order, not merely to 
preserve its smooth appearance, but more particularly, to prevent that loss of 
weight, which would take place if the material were allowed to rust during 
it* transit.’ Holland : Manufactures in Metal, vol. i. pp. 13, 14. 

38 Lib. x. c. 1. 34 Lib. iv. c. 5. 


> 


with reason/ 5 to Odin: the claim to priority over 
all others, asserted for the same hero by the Gothic 
traditions, is not, however, entitled to the same 
consideration;—that claim not finding written as¬ 
sertion until 1,000 years after the period of which 
we are now treating, when the Saemundian Edda 
was composed. 

An account of the isle of Elba 26 is the last refe¬ 
rence to this author, that need now be made. The 
period at which the Elba ores were first opened, 
must be very remote—M. Karsten supposes it to 
have been about 700 b. c. : and in Strabo’s time 
they had already ceased to smelt the iron on the 
island, but carried it, as they do now, to the main¬ 
land. The Greeks called it JEthalia , from the blazes 
of the iron-works : and under that name, Aristotle, 
in the treatise of Remarkable Accounts already 
cited, speaks of it; though he does not refer (as 
indeed it would have been unsuitable for him to 
have done, in that connexion,) to the Manufacture 
of Iron. 

Having now brought down the testimonies of the 
Greek writers, the mention of the isle of Elba carries 
us easily to an inquiry of the Roman authors, who 
have treated of the subject. As however, even the 
oldest of these are modern, compared with those 

5S It is to be wished, that the Society of Northern Antiquaries, of Copenha¬ 
gen, who have already published some interesting researches, would take up 
the legends of Odin, and illustrate and explain them. 

26 Strab. Lib. v. c. 2. 



36 


among whom we have been just now conversant 
and as all the Latin legends and mythology, in this 
regard, have been taken from the Greek, it will be 
sufficient if we cite only those authors cotemporary, 
or nearly so, with our era. 

There is only one, Pliny the Elder, (whose death 
is placed a. d. 79,) who has treated expressly on 
this matter. Merely mentioning then, that Livy 27 
has recorded the fines, imposed by Cato the Censor, 
on the Celtiberian iron-works, after the Spanish 
war, (194 b. c.) and 28 the edict of Paulus iEmilius 
after the Macedonian war, (about 14 years later,) 
forbidding in Macedonia Proper, Thrace, etc., the 
working of any metals, except iron,—I shall give 
here entire the interesting chapter of Pliny the 
Elder, which contains the substance of what was 
known upon the origin of the Iron Manufacture, 
and also a view of its existing state in his time, a 
half century after the Christian era. 29 He says, 30 after 

57 Hist, xxxiv. 21. 28 Hist. xlv. 29. 

*9 Not to interrupt the continuity of the text, I refer in a note to the testi¬ 
mony of Julius Caesar, the invader of Great Britain; which is prior, by a 
century, to the writings of Pliny. He says, ‘Utuntur—annulis ferreis ad 
certum pondus examinatis, pro nummo.’ De Bell. Gall. v. 12. ‘They—the 
Britons—use iron rings (or plates,) guaged to certain weights, as money.’ 

Mr. Scrivenor, in his History of the Iron Trade, now in process of publica¬ 
tion, refers to several of the old British Chroniclers, as well as to the iron 
antiques, which have been discovered in the Forest of Dean, and elsewhere 
in England and Wales, as proof of the early introduction of this manufacture 
into the island: the enlargement of which, he dates about the period of the 
visit of Adrian, a. d. 120, and supposes the principal establishment to have 
been at or near Bath. 

50 Hist. Nat. Lib. xxxiv. 39. 


37 


having given a long account of the origin of the 
manufacture in brass :— 

‘We shall next give some details in regard to the 
metal, Iron; which has furnished the best and the 
worst instruments in the hands of man. With this 
we plough^ we dress our fields, we set our orchards, 
and every year renew the youth of our decaying 
vines. With it we build our houses, we excavate 
rocks; indeed to almost every use, Iron is applied. 
But with the same also we carry on war, commit 
murders, perpetrate bloody robberies; and that not 
always hand to hand, but converting the metal into 
a missile, whether from machines, or by the arm, or 
(as arrows) even feathered; which last I look on as 
the most atrocious perversion of human ingenuity,— 
as if Death did not always come quickly enough, 
but we must also lend it wings. But the fault of 
this use does not necessarily belong to nature; and 
several times efforts have been made, to restrict its 
employment to those cases wherein it is innocent. 
Thus in the treaty, which Porsenna gave to the 
Romans after the expulsion of their Kings, we find 
it expressly provided, that nothing Iron shall be 
used except in agriculture. Also, some of our 
oldest writers have warned us of the danger that 
attends using an iron Style, for writing. And the 
edict of Pompey the Great, passed in his third 
consulship, (after the Clodian Riot,) is still extant, 
forbidding any weapon to be worn in the City. 


38 


‘Iron has certainly sometimes been applied; how¬ 
ever; to practical purposes, more honourable and 

■ 

less repulsive than in the shape of arms. Thus the 
artist Aristonidas,—when he wished to express the 
fury of Athamas subsiding, after the death of his 
son Learchus, into sorrow,—used a mixture for the 
statue of Iron and brass; that in the very material 
(the redness of the iron being seen, as it were, 
through the polish of the brass) might be expressed 
the blush of his mortification and repentance. This 
statue exists at Thebes at this day. In the same 
city is to be seen a Hercules, in iron, by Alcon;— 
the patience and labours of the god being indicated 
in the nature of the metal. We have also in Rome 
bowls of iron, in the temple of Mars the Destroyer; 
the nature of which deity seems to be expressed in 
this circumstance, inflicting the punishment of rust 
even on the Iron itself, and by a malignant provi¬ 
dence, doing nothing in human affairs except for 
harm and destruction. 

‘Iron ores 31 are found almost every where, and 

31 In the original metalla. Anciently there were no other ores dug, but those 
which answer to what we now call metalliferous. From the circumstance of 
their being dug up in pieces, one piece after the other, ( alia met’ alia in 
Greek,) came the name metal: which has, in modern Chemistry, been re¬ 
stricted to a particular division of minerals. It may be remarked, that it was 
only in times much later than Pliny, that the word metallum came to be used, 
in the sense in which we now employ its English equivalent, or to mean any 
thing but what was dug out piece by piece, i. e. an ore. 

That use may have been, however, all the time, made by the Eastern nations; 
if the conjecture of Mr. Parkhurst is correct, as to the meaning of the Hebrew 
and Arabic word, ( metel ,) which he interprets to signify, to forge or hammer 


39 


are very plentiful in the island of Elba; they can 
be easily traced by the tinge which they give to the 
soil: and the processes for refining the metal are 
nearly every where the same. In Cappadocia only, 
it is a question whether the Iron comes from the 
water or from the ore, since it has to be washed in a 
particular stream, in order that when put in the 
furnace it may produce Metallic iron. 

‘The differences of different kinds of metallic iron 
are quite numerous; seeming principally to arise 
from the nature and exposure of the ores. Some 
are very soft, and more nearly answering the pur¬ 
poses of lead; others brittle, like brass, and espe¬ 
cially to be avoided for wheel-tires, or nails, for 
which the first kind answers best. Another kind 
does only for small things—such as ordinary nails, 
and especially shoe*tacks: while another would rust 
too soon for this. All of this last kind bear the 
name of strictures; a word not applied to other 
metals, 32 and derived from its peculiar property of 
taking an edge ( a stringenda acie). There is also 
a difference in the furnaces made use of; in some 
the ore is treated so as to furnish the Iron in bars— 

out. The word metel in Job, xl. 18, is taken to mean a forged bar; —in 
our translation, a bar of Iron. 

3 « Brotier, in his note on this passage, says: Hoc omne ferreum metallum — 
la mine de Fer —strictures vocabatur;—a stringenda acie— la trempe. 

The text here speaks of Ferrum—the metal; not ferreum metallum , the ore or 
mine. Virgil to be sure uses it in this last sense : 

Stricturae Chalybum—jEneid. viji. 421. 


40 


in others they cast only anvils, the heads of ham¬ 
mers, etc. 33 

‘There is much difference too in the water, in 
which when hot it is plunged and tempered. 34 
Advantages in this particular have, at different times, 
given reputation to different places for excellence in 
iron—as 35 Bilbilis and Turiasso in Spain, and Comum 
in Italy: although in none of these places is there 

33 I give here the original, that each reader may put his own interpreta¬ 
tion upon the passage. 

Et Fornacum maxima differentia est: nucleusq. quidem ferri excoquitur in 
his ad indurandam aciem: aliquae modo ad densandas incudes, malleorumve 
rostra. Plin. Hist. Nat. Tom. vi. p. 103, Edit. Barbou. Paris, 1779. 

34 However this may be in fact, it is an opinion still prevalent among skilful 
and practical workmen. In a large shop in Sheffield, famous for the excel¬ 
lence of its saw blades, I once noticed a peculiar appearance in the water of 
the tempering vat: and the reply to my inquiry, as to what was mixed with 
the water to cause the appearance, was, that it was their secret. Frequently, 
there is more or less grease mixed with the water, except for files. I do not 
remember to have ever seen any thing but pure, though stale water, used for 
them. 

33 ‘Approaching the Ebro,’ says D’Anville, ‘Bilbilis, the native city of the 
poet Martial, near a river named Salo, (now Xalon,) is only known by the 
name of Baubola, in the neighbourhood of a new city built by the Moors, 
called Calatayud: Turiasso still exists in Tarragona.’ 

Martial concurs in the testimony of the text, when he says, (Ep. Lib. i. 50): 

Yidebis altam, Liciniane, Bilbilim 
Equis et ajmis nobilem. 

* * * * * 

Tepidi natabis lene Congedi vadum, 

Mollesq. nympharum lacus; 

Quibus remissum corpus adstringas brevi 
Salone, qui fierrum gelat. 

Comum is the modern Como; the birth-place of Pliny the Younger. The 
lake, near which it stands, has lost its ancient name of Larius, and is now the 
Lago di Como. 


41 


any ore. But of all others the best is the Serican 36 
iron> which is imported with their silks and skins; 
and next to it, the Parthian. These are the only 
two kinds, to which a tempered edge can be, with¬ 
out any subsequent process, given: all other sorts are 
too soft in their mechanical arrangement and texture. 
In our continent, sometimes the ore makes the excel¬ 
lence, as in the Norican 37 iron: and sometimes the 
manufacture, like the Sulmonian. As in stones for 
the sharpening, the oil-stones, and those hones which 
are used with water, differ from one another—the 
oil-stones giving a finer edge, (and what is remarka¬ 
ble, in the first product from the ore, the iron, which 
seems to be first made softer by throwing water on 
it, becomes afterwards brittle and spongy,)—the 
tempering of the small blades is done with oil, lest 
water might harden them into too much brittleness. 
The blood of man seems to be revenged, as it were, 

3<5 The uncertainty, in which the Geographers have found and left the 
position of Serica, does not allow more to be said here, than that it lay 
somewhere between China and Hindostan—perhaps near the modem Thibet. 
D’Anville has thought it of consequence enough to write a special memoir; 
which may be found in the Memoirs of the Academy, Tom. xxxii. 

This Serican iron may have been somewhat the same as the modern Wootz , 
which comes from a neighbouring, or perhaps the same, region. 

37 The ancient Noricum covers the ground of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia. 
Other authors testify to the reputation of the Iron brought thence : so Ovid, 
Met. xiv. 712. 

Durior et ferro quod Noricus excoquit ignis. 

The natural resources still remain in their ancient excellence ; but either in 
comparison, or actually, they are not availed of as formerly. 

Sulrao, the birth-place of Ovid, still exists in Solmona. 

6 


42 


on iron; for touched by a drop 5 it quickly contracts 
rust.’ 

He speaks then, by the way, of the Magnetic 
properties of Iron—the only metal which can ac¬ 
quire such properties; and mentions the project of 
Dinochares, who proposed, and actually commenced 
building, a temple, in which an iron statue of Arsi- 
noe, the sister of Ptolemy, 38 was to be suspended in 
air, by the equilibrium of several magnets acting 
against gravity. Its completion was broken off by 
the deaths both of architect and patron. 

He thus 39 continues : 

‘Of all metalliferous ores, those of Iron are by far 
the most abundant. In a district of Maritime 40 Can¬ 
tabria, washed by the ocean, there stands a mountain, 
steep and lofty, entirely of this material; as we have 
already before said. 

‘Iron, by heating (unless it is hardened by ham¬ 
mering) becomes soft. When merely red it is not 
proper for being hammered; it should be taken at 

38 This was Ptolemy II., also called Philadelphia; the founder of the 
Alexandrian Library: and the patron of the Septuagint Translation of the 
Scriptures. He died about 246 b. c. 

The Dinochares here mentioned has been often, (but improperly, and lately 
by the American editors of Lempriere,) confounded with Dinocrates, who 
re-built the temple of the Ephesian Diana. 

39 Cap. xliii. 

40 This district is the same with the modern Biscay: and the mine here 
spoken of is that of the present Sommorostro; where the strata are really in 
thickness from 3 to 10 feet, and yield under present management 40,000 tons 
of iron yearly, according to Mr. Worcester, who however must be in error. 
Beudant calls the ore, specular oxide, or fer oligiste. 


43 


a white heat. Rubbed with vinegar or alum, it be¬ 
comes like brass. 41 It may be kept from rusting by 
(cerussa) chalk, or gypsum, or melted pitch. This 
is the mixture called by the Greeks antipathia: 
though some say that the effect may be produced 
by some mystic influence or withcraft; and that 
there is still a chain over the Euphrates, near 
Zeugma, 42 used by Alexander the Great about his 
bridge, all the new links, subsequently put into 
which, are eaten by rust, while the old ones are 
entirely sound and clean. 5 

There follows then some remarks, as to the medi¬ 
cal uses and properties of Iron; which do not illus¬ 
trate our present purpose farther than to shew, that 
the metal was known, and of varied application. 
They are therefore omitted. 

Besides this long passage, expressly devoted to 
the subject, it is also mentioned in various places by 
the same author: thus in lib. xxviii. 9, he speaks of 
iron or steel instruments, for either lithotomy or 
lithotrity, it is not explained which; and in chap. 
23 of the same book, he speaks of razors (literally 

41 I rather think this has allusion to methods of bronzing. The author has 
not given the whole of the recipe. 

42 This town was formerly the principal passage of the Euphrates, and 
hence its name, which means literally the Bridge. D’Anville says there is 
still, on the other side, a little place called Zegme. 

The chain mentioned here, with all its links, has long since yielded to an 
influence, before which even that of witchcraft, hinted at by Pliny, must bow. 
Brotier’s note on this passage asks, with great naivete;—Fuitne priscis—ars 
ita ferrum fundendi aut temperandi, ut rubiginem non sentiret ? 


44 


the knives of the barbers) becoming dull in conse¬ 
quence of circumstances, which we do not, it is true, 
hold to have much influence. 

Cotemporary with Pliny was the Philosopher, or 
Impostor, Apollonius of Tyanaea; whose life, though 
in fact written by Philostratus, nearly 200 years after¬ 
wards, yet being a mere rifaccimento of materials 
collected during the life-time of the subject himself, 
is entitled to assume its chronological place here. 
His friend Damis, the real author of the life, men¬ 
tions 43 his having received from a certain Brahmin 
seven metallic rings, for the different days of the 
week, according to the respective dedications of the 
said days and of the metals. Thus the Iron one was 
worn on Tuesday. 

Confirmatory of the accounts of Pliny, it may be 
mentioned that the explorations of Pompeii have 
furnished articles of this metal, though the condi¬ 
tions of their fabrication do not appear to have been 
investigated: and the Count de Caylus informs us of 
a small statue of Hercules, in cast-iron, found in the 
Museum of the Villa Borghese, evidently of Etrus¬ 
can origin, and probably dating three and a half or 
four centuries before the Christian era. 

Such are the statements which have come down 
to us of the ages preceding our computation of time: 
and with them, I shall close the ancient History of 
the Manufacture of Iron. 


« Philost. iii. 41. Beckmann, T. iii. 56. 



45 


I will nevertheless avail of the long interval, of 
nearly fifteen centuries, between the date to which 
we have now arrived, and the publication of the first 
modern work that can be called a Treatise on Iron, 
to make a few remarks, which I hope will be thought 
not out of place, upon the methods which have been 
already mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and Plutarch, 
as existing among the Chalybes and Celtiberians. 

It has been the general opinion, that these people 
made use of furnaces either without a chimney (for 
fusible ores, after the Catalan method,) or with a very 
low one, for ores rather more refractory. In the 
first case, malleable iron, or steel, might be made 
by the one process: in the second, it was attained 
by the repeated fusions, or finings, which Aristotle 
mentions. Both kinds, however, would belong to 
the class called by the Germans stuck-ofen , and by 
the French fourneciux-a-masse , such as were used, 
in comparatively late times, in Silesia: in which the 
reduced metal, after heat applied for a longer or 
shorter time, according to the charge, would be 
found (as in the crucible-analysis of ores at pre¬ 
sent) in an ingot at the bottom of the furnace. 

I confess, however, that after considering the pas¬ 
sage of Pliny, (the original of which I have given in 
the note, p. 40,) I do not see that his language 
excludes the idea of a jiuss-ofen , in the nature of 
what we term, in modern times, a high furnace; out 
of which the iron is run while yet fluid. 


46 


In regard to this passage, M. Beckmann (t. iv. p. 
240) says : ‘Stricture was the name given to pieces 
of steel completely manufactured, and brought to 
that state in which they were rendered fit for com¬ 
merce. In speaking of other metals, Pliny says that 
the finished products of the works were not called 
Strictura3, (this was the case for example with cop¬ 
per) though sharpness could be given to instruments 
of other metals also. The words last quoted are 
read different ways, and still remain obscure. I 
conjecture that he meant to say, that some steel¬ 
works produced things which were entirely of steel, 
and that others were employed only in steeling . 5 

The author of the Treatise on the Manufactures in 
Iron and Steel in the Cabinet Cyclopaedia 44 (which 
is, I believe, to be attributed to Mr. Holland,) says of 
this passage, that ‘the words, whatever they mean, 
are not to be construed, as if they had been written 
by a modern cutler,—the welding of an edge of steel 
to a body of iron, or the fastening it by other means 
to that or other substances. 545 

Both these writers appear to me to have sought 
for steel in places where it need not be found; and 
where its use would have been equally well sup- 

44 Vol. xxiv. p. 12. 

4^ That however the ancients had the art of welding, or otherwise fastening, 
iron or steel to other metals, appears to be implied in the account already 
given of Glaucus the Chian. A passage of Diodore of Sicily (1. v. c. 34) in 
regard to the Lusitanian spears, which he calls oXotf^poir, or with blade* 
entirely of Iron, may bear also on this subject. 


47 


plied with Iron merely. I have before shewn from 
Plutarch^ on the passage concerning Lycurgus, that 
stomoma does not always mean steeling, but gene¬ 
rally elasticity, or temper, of whatever degree; which 
temper belongs to iron as well as steel: and indeed 
Pliny himself; has in another place 46 spoken of a 
stomoma from brass or copper; while writers are 
quoted elsewhere by Beckmann; who have used 
the term to mean our modern forge-cinder, or in 
German; hammerschlag. 

My own interpretation of the passage is; that the 
stricture were rods or bars of Iron ; (or perhaps 
steel in some cases;) in such shapes as to be fit to 
be converted by the smith into wheel-tires (which 
would be a broad bar,) or into nails; which we call a 
nail-rod. He has been speaking only of iron fitted 
for these applications; and he adds, ‘all these kinds; 
suitable for the purposes I have mentioned; are 
called stridurce? Farther, these stricturae were 
made in some furnaces; while others made plates, 
larger or smaller, so as to cover anvils or the heads 
of heavy hammers—or perhaps, as I said at first, cast 
those very articles,—since even at the present day, 
cast anvils are not at all uncommon, although not 
good for cutlers. 

I may properly terminate this discussion here, in 
Beckmann’s own words: hoping that ‘the reader 
will forgive me for entering into such dry criticisms; 


46 Lib. xxxiv. 25. 


I 


48 

but if Pliny’s valuable work is ever to become in¬ 
telligible, occasional contributions of this kind must 
not be despised.’ 

Before leaving entirely the subject of ancient 
furnaces, I will only remark, that the ancients 
possessed Bellows suitable for blowing these fur¬ 
naces, whether Stuck-ofen or Fluss-ofen; though it 
is not ascertained, who was their inventor. They 
have been attributed 47 to Anacharsis the Scythian, 
about 600 b. c. But this is certainly an error, as 
they are mentioned expressly in Homer, 300 years 
before, particularly in those passages, 48 descriptive 
of the visit of Thetis to Vulcan to procure the arms 
of Achilles. They are also mentioned by the 
Hebrew prophets, Jeremiah (vi. 29,) and Ezekiel 
(xxii. 20): both of whom preceded, or were at 
least cotemporaries of Anacharsis. That they were 
generally of leather only, appears from Plautus ; 49 
and in a passage of Virgil’s Georgies, 50 from which, 
and the notes on it, it appears that they had inves¬ 
tigated the matter sufficiently to establish certain 
points as to the kind of leather which should be 
used. But this subject of Bellows, I shall have 
occasion to mention again. 

47 Strab. lib. vii. c. 3. 49 Fragmenta, Tom. ii. p. 469, Ed. Tauchn. 

48 II. xviii. 372, etc. 80 Lib. iv. 170. 


49 


Sec. 2. Modern History of the Manufacture of Iron. 

For seven hundred years after our era, the men¬ 
tion of this subject by different writers, whose works 
have come down to us, (such as Clement of Alexan¬ 
dria, Olympiodorus, and others) is not more explicit 
or satisfactory than the accounts, which we have just 
come from consulting. About that period, however, 
may be dated the commencement of some authentic 
information; which thickens upon our way as we 
descend to times nearer our own. In exhibiting here 
their principal details, I shall pursue the same kind 
of chronological arrangement as in the preceding 
part of this Report, so as to present the epochs in 
their proper order. 


The mines of Styria (which is, in part, the 
ancient Noricum of the Romans,) are spoken 
of, as being opened again at this time. They 
used the stiick-ofen before mentioned: probably the 
same with the ancient one spoken of by Aristotle. 

A little later, the importance of the manufacture, 
in England, is mentioned by Bede. 

The use of the same kind of Furnaces, 
mentioned just now, was general, over 
Alsatia and Burgundy. ‘It must have been later/ 
says M. Karsten, ‘ere they were introduced into 
Saxony and Bohemia. 5 
7 


950-1000. 


50 


_ Iron-works at Kimberworth in Yorkshire ; 

1160. . . . , 

recorded in the public archives of Great 

Britain. 


3238. 


1355. 


Proclamation of Henry III., touching iron¬ 
works in the forest of Dean ; preserved in 
the Rolls office. 

Act of 28 Edward III., prohibiting the 
exportation of manufactured iron. M. Kar- 
sten has erred, in referring this to the year previous: 
he is however correct, in calling it the first law on 
the subject; for it was only in this reign, that the 
difference was marked between a proclamation of the 
King and council, and an act , receiving the assent of 
the Lords and Commons. 

3365. Bloomeries used in Silesia. 

Mines of Dannemora in Sweden opened. 
The epoch of modern Foundries; from 
the casting of stoves, then for the first time, 
in Alsace. The jluss-ofen , says Karsten, must have 
been known at that time; although Agricola, fifty 
years later, says nothing about them. Hassenfratz 
also quotes a writer in the Annals of Manufacture, 51 
as affirming, that in the latter half of the 15th cen¬ 
tury there were, in England, furnaces capable of 
producing sixty quintals, or nearly three tons, of 
metal in the twenty-four hours. This could only 
have been from high furnaces, even more improved 


1488. 

1490. 


See Hassenf'r. Siderotechnie: Tom. i. p. 10. 


51 


than the Jluss-ofen. But I have not yet found any 
confirmation for this statement, 
j The publication of the work of George 

Agricola, de Re Metallicci , or On Metals. 
Thus, the first regular treatise ever published on the 
Manufacture of Iron, was so well received, that four 
folio editions were published in less than twelve 
years from its first appearance. As I suppose that 
every Iron-master will take pride and interest in 
knowing more of this, the first historian of his art, I 
willingly insert here, from Bayle, some particulars 
concerning him. 

George Agricola was born at Glaucha, in Misnia, 
on 24 March, 1494. Bred for a physician, and 
educated in Italy, the opportunities for discoveries in 
Mineralogy and Metallurgy, found by him amid the 
mountains of Bohemia, drew him off from his pro¬ 
fession; which for a while he practised in Joachims- 
thal. A pension, bestowed on him by Maurice of 
Saxony, enabled him to renounce medicine alto¬ 
gether, and to settle at Chemnitz, (then, as now, 
the great manufacturing mart of Saxony,) where he 
composed his great work already mentioned, and 
several slighter ones upon Mineralogy and the con¬ 
nate branches of Natural History, as also upon 
Weights and Measures. It was at this place, that 
on 21 November, 1555, he died; and a melancholy 
shadow rests on the last times of this old man, who 
for five days laid unburied, not finding, as Matthio- 


52 


lus feelingly says, in all his country for which he had 
done so much, earth enough to hide his sad remains. 
The fact was, that he had mixed himself up in the 
disputes then warm, between the advocates and ad¬ 
versaries of the Reformation,—he being a strenuous 
Romanist,—and had rendered himself so unpopular, 
that the inhabitants seized upon the opportunity of a 
poor revenge, in denying him burial. Finally, he 
was removed and buried in Zeits. 

Agricola describes only three kinds of Furnaces, 
as being in use in his day, and corresponding to the 
different degrees of fusibility in the ores. I have 
thought to assist the reader, by giving a drawing of 
these furnaces; in which, however, I have been 
obliged to use an arbitrary scale. 

The most fusible ores were treated in a kind 
of hearth, (Plate I. fig. 1.) similar to what is now 
employed in the Catalan method. ‘Those, which 
were a little less fusible, were heated in furnaces, 
about three feet high and five feet wide, (fig. 2). 
The mine, broken up, was thrown together with 
charcoal into the mouth or tunnel head: and succes¬ 
sive charges replaced the materials, as they settled 
or were consumed. The combustion was kept up 
with bellows, worked by hand; and after twelve 
hours of strong heat, they run off the scoriae, and 
found at the bottom of the hearth, a mass of Iron 


53 


* 

which was carried to the shingling 52 hammer. If 
the mine was more difficult still to fuse, it was 
roasted, broken up into small pieces, and smelted in 
furnaces more elevated, (as well as may be judged 
from the figures, five or six feet in height); the 
resulting product was sometimes placed immediately 
under the hammer, but more generally refined, by 
another melting, before being hammered. 5 

These furnaces are all of the kind denominated 
stuck - ofen : of the other sort, or fluss-ofen, Agricola 
makes no mention; although we have certain infor¬ 
mation of their use, in 1490, in Alsace, and also an 
account, given under the same date, of furnaces 
still more highly improved. 

Finally, it may be remarked of the work of 
Agricola, that his confinement to one city prevented 
it from being of much value, as an historical record 
of matters, out of Saxony and its borders; and that, 
although from the original remarks, and especially 
the synthetic, classifying mind of the writer, it was 
certainly a remarkable book in its age and for its 
age, yet there is not much in it which would bear 
translation for the benefit of modern iron-workers. 
Nevertheless, it is always worthy of being referred 

r 

« This word, shingle , is a curious instance of the corruption of words. It 
was, no doubt, taken from the corresponding French w r ord— cingler —which 
has technically the same meaning, and generally the signification of striking 
or beating forcibly, and seems to be an abuse of another word, in the same 
language,— sangler ,—that is well known. 


54 


1550. 


1559. 


to, as an epoch in the History of the Manufacture 
of Iron. 

1547. Cannon first cast in England this year. 

The fluss-ofen for the first time intro¬ 
duced into Saxony. Hans Lobsinger, an 
organist of Nuremberg, the probable inventor of 
wooden bellows. 

Act of 1 Eliz. c. 15; limiting the con¬ 
sumption of wood into charcoal, for making 
iron, to the county of Sussex, and part of Kent. 

I have not been able to assign any date, for the 
introduction of charcoal , as the combustible, in this 
manufacture. 

Hans-sien, a Voigtlander, constructs 
in the Harz, a Furnace, twenty-four 
feet high and six feet boshes. 53 About this time, 
says Mr. Hebert, blast furnaces in England were of 
sufficient size, to produce from two to three tons of 
pig-iron per day, or fifteen to twenty per week. 
He adds, however, that it was only in the most 
favourable situations that such great products could 
be obtained. 

Simon StUrtevant’s patent, for the use of 
pit-coal in making pig-iron. By his patent 
‘he was bound to publish the nature and process of 
his Invention; which he did, in a quarto book enti¬ 
tled MetallicaS He failed, and was succeeded 


1559-1600. 


1612. 


63 Hassenfratz, T. i.p. 180. 


55 


by John Ravenson, in his Zealand in his 

1613. 

patent. This last also failed, and surren¬ 
dered his patent; at which there may be less sur¬ 
prise, when we are told by him, that he expected 
to make one ton of pig-metal, with one ton of pit- 
coal. 


In Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus promul¬ 
gates an ordinance to encourage the emigra¬ 
tion of German furnace-men to that country. M. 
Hassenfratz has been inaccurate in referring the date 
of this act to 1604; which was seven years before 
Gustavus ascended the throne. 

Up to that period, the Swedish furnaces had 
been from ten to twelve feet in height, and without 
boshes ; 54 their place being supplied by a talus of 
sand, put in the bottom of the Furnace. Now, the 
German artizans, emigrating, brought with them 
what may be termed the fashion of middle fur¬ 
naces 56 twenty or twenty-five feet high, with boshes, 
and openings at several heights in the tymp, for the 
convenience of getting rid of the cinder. 

Dudley, following Sturtevant and others in 
the patent, succeeds in manufacturing Iron 
with pit-coal; but the prospects exciting much 


I apprehend this word to be a corruption of the French, Bouche , i. e. a 
mouth, and to have originated in the era of low furnaces. 

55 M. Hassenfratz calls every thing a High furnace, which is more than 
twelve feet. 


56 


1620. 


envy, his patent was taken from him, and even his 
works destroyed. Long subsequent to this (in 
1665,) his son, in his book Metallum Martis , lays 
the burden of the break-up (for it was no fail¬ 
ure,) upon the arbitrary avarice of the protector 
Cromwell. 

The usual epoch assigned for the discovery 
of wooden Bellows , (instead of the leather 
ones,) by Henry, Bishop of Bamberg, in Bavaria. 
But I have before, out of Beckmann, given a more 
probable date of 1550 ; though it is not unlikely, 
that the Bishop might have been the first to pub¬ 
lish an exact description. Nevertheless, it seems 
certain that in 1621, one Pfannenschmidt, (whether 
his real name, or a soubriquet from his 
trade, cannot now be told,) settled in Ost- 
field, in the Harz-forest, and began manufacturing 
wooden Bellows. His art was disclosed only to his 
son ; and thirty years ago, his great-grandson had 
still the monopoly of the Forest. 

M. Landrin has been inaccurate, in his date of 
1626; as well as in the name of this person, whom 
he calls the improver. 

Patent of Charles I., for the new Invention 
of smelting Iron ore with sea-coal, or pit- 
coal, only. 

1640 Trompes , or water-blasts, first introduced 
into Italy. These machines are still used in 


1621. 


1627. 


57 


many places ; but in their operation, 56 the air being 
drawn in, as it were, by the fall of water, takes into 
mechanical suspension either some particles of water, 
or of aqueous vapor,—carries them with it into the 
furnace, and thus produces the greater or less ill- 
result, which attends dampness of the Blast. 

In 1662, they were first described by Father 
Kircher. I have been informed that there is such a 
machine in use in America, in the State of N. York. 
1650 The met ^ oc ^ s * n Sweden, still farther im¬ 
proved by an importation (due to De Gier) 
of workmen, from Liege and Namur. The furnaces 
'were raised from twenty-five to thirty feet; the 
boshes, which before had been made in the cruci¬ 
ble, or hearth, were now raised entirely above it; 
and a dam-stone completed the improvement. 

Chambre describes, as then for some time 
1658 ' 

existing, the use of peat by the Dutch in the 

manufacture of Iron. 

Mr. Ray, the Naturalist, describes, in this 
year, the methods pursued at Cuckfield in 
Sussex; which county, formerly the principal seat of 
the manufacture with charcoal, has now ceased to 
give any product, since the introduction of pit coal. 

‘The hearth, or bottom, of the Furnace is made of 

The best physico-mathematical researches, on the subject of these 
trompes, are to be found in the Works of M. Venturi. A translation of one 
of his treatises, in which these water-blasts are spoken of, was made, I be¬ 
lieve, by Mr. Nicholson, and is to be found among the Collection, by Mr. 
Tredgold, of Tracts on Hydraulics. 

8 


58 


sandstone, and the sides round, to the height of a 
yard or thereabout;—the rest is lined, up to the top, 
with brick. 

‘When they begin upon a new Furnace, they put 
fire for a day or two, before they begin to blow; 
they then blow gently, and increase by degrees, 
until they come to the height, in about ten weeks 
or more. 

‘Every six days they call a founday; in which 
space, they make eight tons of iron, 57 if you divide 
the whole sum of iron made by the founday; for 
at first, they make less on a founday, at last, more, 

‘Of twenty-four loads of coals they expect eight 
tons of iron: to every load of coals which consists of 
eleven quarters they put a load of mine which con¬ 
tains eighteen bushels. 53 

‘A Hearth ordinarily, if made of good stone, will 
last forty foundays, i. e. forty weeks; during which 
time the fire is never let go out. 5 

The epoch of the works of Neviamskoi, 
1701. ... 5 

in the Ural mountains; established by Count 

DemidofF-Akimsi, under the sanction of Peter the 

Great. 

His furnaces were forty-five feet high; and a 
systematic saving was effected in fuel; for whereas, 
they had never before made iron with less than 132 

67 This is considerably below Mr. Hebert’s statement, given under a. d. 
1559—1600; as also that of O’Reilly, given under a. d. 1490, from Hassen- 
fratz. 

48 These eighteen bushels, it may be inferred, weighed about a ton. 



59 


1715. 


lbs. charcoal to the 100 lbs. iron, and in some places 
the consumption was 370 for 100—the Neviam- 
sko'i works used charcoal in quantities, varying, by 
weights, from 115 to 170, for the 100 of Iron. 

Epoch of Furnaces in Maryland, Virginia, 
and Pennsylvania. M. Karsten places this in 
1730; but this is inaccurate,—1500 tons of pig-iron 
having been, in that year, imported into England 
from Maryland and Virginia. 

I shall give hereafter a tabular extract from the 
Returns of Custom, in which this subject will be 
treated in more detail. 

It is certain, that, in 1718, there was upwards of 
three tons of bars imported from one or the other of 
these States: and in 1719, an act was proposed, in 
the House of Lords, to prevent the erection of roll¬ 
ing or slitting mills in America. This act was not, 
however, passed till 1750. 

1721. The Fluss-ofen first introduced into Silesia. 

Proposal in the British Parliament to bring 
all their pig-iron from the American colonies, 
so as to save the wood on their own Island. 

The use of Dudley’s method begins to 
extend the consumption of pit-coal. The 
Coalbrook-Dale Works established. Tons. 

Product in England, from 59 Furnaces: 17,350 
The invention of fan-bellows, or rotary 

Blast; by a person named Teral. 

Act of 23 Geo. II.; taking off the duty 

from American Iron, (which had been for 


1737. 


1740. 


1749. 


1750. 


I 


60 


1760. 


pigs, 35. 9 lod. per ton, and for bars, £2 Is. 6* 0 d. per 
ton,) but forbidding the erection of Slitting or 
Rolling mills in America. 

Cylindrical cast-iron bellows, moved by a 
water wheel, erected by Mr. Smeaton, for the 
Carron Iron Works, in Scotland. 

After this epoch, which is that of Watt’s 
Steam Engine, such bellows became of gene¬ 
ral use: Landrin dates their universal employment 


1769. 


in 1778. 

1780. Invention of the Puddling furnace. 

‘According to the best testimony,’ says Mr. Hol¬ 
land, ‘the first person, who introduced or attempted 
this process, was an iron-master, in the county of 
Gloucester, named Cort; but like too many other 
inventors, he was unsuccessful, and ruin overtook 
him before he could turn to his own advantage that 
scheme, which—presently—became so profitable in 
the hands of others. The first individual, who 

succeeded, and derived from it a princely fortune, 

> 

was a resident of South Wales; who had the judg¬ 
ment to perceive, and the spirit to patronize, the 
ingenuity of a person, who, acting as his engineer, 
carried towards perfection, the art o [puddling. The 
process was quickly introduced into every part of 
the country, where the Iron trade was carried 
on:—the business was rushed into with capitals 
of £10,000, to £100,000, iron-works multiplied 
rapidly, the quantity produced exceeded the con¬ 
sumption, competition reduced the price below the 


61 


1784. 


cost of manufacturing, and not a few adventurers 
had to tell a tale of disappointment and ruin. 5 This 
epoch is, by some, referred to a date four years 
later, viz. 1784; by others to 1785. 

Invention of Iron-Rolls :—patent granted to 
the same Mr. Cort, mentioned in the pre¬ 
ceding paragraph. Like the former, it was 
unprofitable discovery for him. 

Product in England from 53 coke 

furnaces; active, . 48,800 

24 charcoal; active and inactive, . . 13,100 


an 


1788. 


Tons. 


77 furnaces,.61,900 

1796. Charcoal Furnaces almost entirely given up : 

Product from 121 furnaces, . . Tons, 124,879 

1802. Product from 168 furnaces, . . 170 3 000 

Product from 227 furnaces (only 

1806. 

159 active at once,) '. 250,000 

Product (on the authority of Mr. 

1 820 

Dufrenoy,). 400,000 

Mr. Murray, who makes it 690,000 tons for this 
year, and 680,000 for 1830, must have been misin¬ 
formed. 

I am not able to assign the exact date of Mr. 
HilPs patent for the use of forge-cinder: I take it 
to be about this time. Although a useful invention, 
yet I believe that neither Mr. HilPs employment of 
it, nor theirs who contested his patent, had been the 
first or the second time of its use. 





62 


1826. 


Samuel Rogers mentions it in 1819, in those 
letters which are spoken of in the Introduction to 
this Report. 

According to M. Dufrenoy, there were in 
the commencement of this year, in all, 374 
furnaces in Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland; of 
which 271 were in activity: the product from 262 of 

which was .Tons 581,367 

The other 9 at the same average of 2,219 

tons per furnace,.19,971 


Product from 271 furnaces: .... 601,338 

The same writer affords the authority for the 
following table, shewing the proportions of different 
kinds of Iron, viz : Tons . 

Finery iron, or for Bars, . . . 339,662 

Iron for 2d fusion, or Castings, . 172,250 

Pig-iron,.' . . . 89,426 

- 601,338 


1829. 


1827. Product from 284 Furnaces: 690,000 tons. 

> 

Era of the introduction of the Hot-Blast: 
patent enrolled March, 1829. The Inventor, 
Mr. Neilson, thus speaks of it (in 1836,) in a letter 
to Mr. Telford. 

‘About seven years ago I received information that 
one of the Muirkirk Iron furnaces, situated at a con¬ 
siderable distance from the Engine, did not work so 
well as the others; which led me to conjecture that 
the friction of the air, in passing along the pipe, 







63 


prevented an equal volume getting to the distant 
furnace, as to the one situated close by the engine. 
I at once came to the conclusion, that by heating 
the air at the distant furnace, I should increase 
volume in the ratio of the known law of expansion. 5 

This was tested by an experiment in a smith’s 
forge: forthwith experiments were commenced at 
the Clyde Iron Works; which, being completely 
successful, led to its adoption at the Calder, and 
manv other works. 

‘The air, as at first raised to 250° F. 5 Mr. Neilson 
goes on to say, ‘produced a saving of three-sevenths 
in every ton of pig made; and the heating appa¬ 
ratus having since been enlarged so as to increase 
the temperature of the Blast to 600° F., a propor¬ 
tional saving of fuel is effected: and an immense 
additional saving is also acquired by the use of raw 
coal, instead of coke, which may now be adopted. 

‘By the use of this fuel, with three-sevenths of 
the fuel formerly employed, the Iron-maker is now 
enabled to make one-third more iron of superior 
quality. 5 

This last position has been doubted: in another 
place the evidences will be brought together and 
compared. 

Product of Iron in the United Tons . 

1830. Ci C A im ««« 

States oi America,.191 ,odd 

Dr. Cleland states the whole pro- Tons . 

1833 

duct of Great Britain, at ... . 700,000 

But this I should think is much under-estimated. 


64 


1834. 

1836. 


1839. 


Three Charcoal furnaces still left in England. 
Dr. Ure states the product in this Tons . 

year to have been.1,000,000 

There were still two charcoal furnaces left 
in England at this date, according to infor¬ 
mation given me; whose products were absorbed 
in some particular manufactures,—especially those 
where steel is made by contact , as is the case with 
fire-irons generally. 

As well as I could ascertain from different sources, 
the whole number of furnaces, in Great Britain and 
Ireland, may be set down at four hundred and 
eighty-four; to which, in the spring of 1840, may 
be added forty-seven in process of construction. 
Mr. Johnson of Liverpool, estimated September last, 
as contemplated to be commenced in 1839-40, sixty 
new furnaces in Wales, and twenty-six for Scotland 
alone; exclusive of thirty-one actually building in 
the former, and seven in the latter district, which 

will thus have more than tripled its number in four- 

> 

teen years. 


In 1826, Scotland had 25 furnaces: 17 in blast: 8 inactive. 

1839, “ “ 55 “ 50 “ 5 

1840, we estimate 88 “ 77 “ 11 “ 

The precarious state of all trade renders it im¬ 
possible to fill up the last two columns for this year, 
with accuracy. 

Of the whole number of furnaces just now men¬ 
tioned (484), there were in activity at once Xons> 
445 furnaces; producing. 1,250,000 


65 


This I take to be a near approximation of the 
truth. 


The following tables, compiled from a Parliamen¬ 
tary Report of July, 1839, may be interesting; as 
shewing the present state of the commerce of Great 
Britain in this article. 


I* Foreign Iron, Import and Export. 


WHERE SENT. 

1835. 

1836. 

1837. 

1838. 

Foreign iron imp. from Sweden 
Russia and elsewhere, . . 

Foreign steel; principally from 
Sweden,. 

Total imported , . 

Foreign iron exported U. S. A. 

Elsewhere,. 

Steel,. 

Total exported , . 

TONS. 

13,787 

5,963 

969 

16,646 

8,387 

1,065 

11,215 

8,057 

423 

15,543 

7,464 

497 

20,719 

26,098 

19,695 

23,504 

595 

2,040 

1,361 

2,302 

2,460 

965 

918 

1,700 

341 

2,053 

2,316 

648 

3,996 

5,727 

2,959 

5,017 

Foreign iron consumed, . 16,723 | 20,371 16,736 | 18,487 


II. Domestic Iron Exported. 


WHERE SENT. 

1835. 

1836. 

1S37. 

1838. 

To the U. States, of the 
following kinds: 

Bar iron, exclusive of bolts 
and rods, .... 
Pigs & castings, (prop. 3:1) 
Wrought iron, nails, &c. 
Unwrought steel, . . . 

Bolts and rods, . . . 

TONS. 

29,124 

16,074 

4,286 

1,886 

590 

48,812 

20,878 

6,573 

1,952 

1,115 

29,864 

13,842 

3,657 

1,477 

366 

48,594 

16,120 

4,657 

1,636 

222 

Total export to U. States, 
Elsewhere; of all kinds, 

51,960 

147,046 

79,330 

113,027 

49,206 

145,085 

71,229 

184,789 

Total exported, . . 

199,006 

192,357 

194,291 

256,018 


9 



















































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67 


The last table on the opposite page, I have re¬ 
duced from the report of the French minister of 
Public Works, for 1837, laid before the Chambers 
in 1838, to shew the advances, which France has 
of late years made in this branch of National 
industry; aided much by the efforts and surveillance 
of a government, which takes scientific men under 
its protection. The effects in this manner produced 
in spite of local embarrassments and difficulties, and 
the economy which they have been able to intro¬ 
duce into the old methods, (which in many places 
are retained, because circumstances do not allow of 
any substitution,) would of themselves deserve a 
special report. 


Comparison of the product of Iron in France during several 

successive years. 

1833. 1834. 1835. 1836. 

Denomination. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 

Cast-iron, 237,000, 269,064, 295,000, 308,363. 

Bar-iron, 152,265, 177,163, 209,539, 210,580. 

This is not enough for the consumption of the 
Empire; and therefore in 1836, France imported: 

Tons. 

Pig-iron, 19,962, principally from Great Britain. 

Bar-iron, 4,759, principally from Russia and Norway; of 

this only 99J tons were rolled Bars, and 
made with coal. 

Steel, 1,057, (unwrought) chiefly from Sweden. 


68 


I also present here the following table of the 

Product of Iron in Europe and America. 

Tons. 


England, 1839, . . . 

. . 1,250,000. 

m. p. 

France, 1836, 

. . 308,000. 

Pub. Doc. 

Russia, 1830, . . . . 

. . 167,500. 

Villefosse. 

Sweden, 1830, . . . 

. . 150,000. 

Karsten. 

Austria, 1830, . . . . 

. . 100,000. 

Karsten. 

Prussia, 1830, . . . 

. . . 80,000. 

Yirlet. 

The Harz Mountains, 

. . . 60,000. 

Virlet. 

Holland and Belgium, . 

. . . 60,000. 

Virlet. 

Italy,. 

. . . 50,500. 

Virlet. 

Spain, 59 . 

. . . 18,000. 

Virlet. 

Norway,. 

. . . 13,500. 

Karsten. 

Denmark,. 

. . . 13,500. 

Virlet. 

Bavaria, . 


Virlet. 

Hungary, .... 

. . . 10,000. 

Murray. 

Saxony, . 

. . . 8,000. 

Virlet. 

Poland,. 

, . . . 7,500. 

Virlet. 

Switzerland, .... 

. . . 3,000. 

Virlet. 

United States of America, 

1839, 235,000. 

m. p. 


2,547,500. 

60 


*9 See note p. 42. 

60 Mr. R. C. Taylor, whose information upon such matters is entitled to 
much respect, has made a statement (which has been communicated to me 
only while these sheets are passing through the press) somewhat differing 
from mine. 

He arranges, upon the authority of a recent author, the product of Great 


Britain as follows: 

Tons. 

In England,. 636,000. 

In South Wales,. 550,000. 

In Scotland,. 200,000. 


1,3S6,000. 

But he afterwards puts this amount down in gross at . . 1,512,000 tons. 
I have not, however, seen reason to alter the quantity I have given. Bel- 



















69 


It has not been the policy of the British Govern¬ 
ment to encourage manufactures in any part of 
British America. With regard to Central and 
South America and the West Indies, I have no 
authentic information. The same may be said of 
various nations of Asia and Africa, who according 
to the testimony of travellers, such as Gmelin, 
Mungo Park and others, use methods, (from which 
we may draw or correct our ideas regarding those 
of classical antiquity,) that in a measure supply their 
wants. 

On the river Gambia the furnaces of the Carna¬ 
hans are ten feet in height; but discordant accounts 
are given of the amount of their product. 

gium, he sets down at 147,640 tons. This estimate, which is upon later 
authority than I had consulted, I assume as more worthy to be received. 

But the product of the United States he regards, upon the estimate of Mr, 

Lea, to have been in 1837,.. 250,000 tons. 

In this I cannot accord. 

Dr. Ure, who has given a similar table in his Dictionary of Arts and 
Manufactures, but upon the authority of M. Virlet, has suffered a slight 
inaccuracy to escape him in the summation of the amount; which in the 
original is given in Quintals, but which he has expressed in Tons. The 
quintals in question are the metrical quintals, i. e. one hundred kilogrammes; 
and the kilogramme is, as nearly as may be, 2.21 pounds avoirdupois; so that 
10 metrical quintals are almost exactly 1 ton English. Hence Dr. Ure’s 
amount in tons, for 13,433,000 quintals—the whole production stated by M. 
Virlet,—should be 1,343,300 tons, instead of 672,000 tons, as the article in 
the work referred to gives it. 



70 


Sec. 3. Manufacture of Iron in Maryland. 

No materials exist from which could be compiled 
an authentic history of the special Manufacture of 
Iron in this State. Such details as I have been able 
to collect orally or otherwise, from sources that could 
be relied on, I here present;—with the hope that it 
may induce contributions from persons, who may 
have some additional information and to whom I 
have not had access. 

The epoch of Furnaces in this State has been 
already given as of the year 1715, and the expor¬ 
tation of Iron appears to have occurred first in the 
year 1717. It is very probable that some of the 
furnaces I shall presently mention, situate near the 
Western Shore of the Chesapeake, go to this early 
date. But the first authentic record, which I have 
met with, is among our Council-proceedings 61 under 
date of 23 August, 1756; where, in a report of 
the Governor and Council to the British Commis¬ 
sioners of Trade and Plantations, there is stated to 
be eight furnaces and nine forges in operation. 

Again on 21 December, 1761, in a similar report, 
there is said to be the same number {eight) of fur¬ 
naces, making about 2500 tons of Pig, and ten 
forges, capable of working up 600 tons of Bar iron. 

61 Lib. T. R. & U. S. p. 118, etc. 

Mr. McMahon, in his History of Maryland, carries it, upon the same 
authority, as far back as 1749; when there appears to have been the same 
number of furnaces and forges. 


71 


The reports, although desired by the commis¬ 
sioners to be annual, do not appear to have been 
made regularly; or it might not have been thought 
necessary to insert them among the Council Pro¬ 
ceedings. I do not find any farther mention of this 
manufacture or its amount down to the year 1771; 
beyond which I have not thought it worth while to 
examine. 

The motion made in the British Parliament, in 
1737, to import all their Iron from America, so as to 
spare their own forests has been already mentioned; 
and either its rejection, or the operation of antece¬ 
dent causes which produced that rejection, led to 
the adoption of methods that in the general use of 
bituminous coal rendered such a policy unnecessary. 
Indeed, the other extreme was now in part resorted 
to; and the act of 23 George II., as already men¬ 
tioned,—although it professed to be for the encou¬ 
ragement of the manufacture in British America, and 
did in fact take off the duties from American Pig 
and Blooms,—forbade the erection of any mills or 
machinery for laminating, slitting or otherwise treat¬ 
ing forged iron. 

Mr. Smollet 62 has already noticed the remarkable 
circumstances attending the passage of this bill, in 
the numerous and contradictory petitions and memo¬ 
rials presented in relation to it. From Sheffield, the 
Tanners represented ‘that if the bill should pass, 


62 Smollet: Hist. England, B. iii. c. i. § 35. 


0 


72 

English iron would be undersold: consequently a 
great number of furnaces and forges would be dis¬ 
continued : in that case the woods used for fuel 
would stand uncut: and thus their trade be deprived 
of oak-bark in sufficient quantity for its support.’ In 
more natural and nearer connexion with the subject, 
the Iron-masters and manufacturers from the same 
district alleged the great expense to which they had 
run in erecting their establishments and their conse¬ 
quent claim for protection, as well as the claims of 
the labourers and others now in their employment, 
who they assumed would infallibly be thrown out of 
work should the bill pass; because of the advantage 
which the greater plenty and cheapness of wood 
would give to the American manufacture. Neither of 
these classes objected so much to the remission of the 
duty on Pig-iron: because the oak-bark consumers 
thought, that as the furnaces diminished in conse¬ 
quence of imported Pig being cheaper, forges would 
increase;—which last were also the kind of estab¬ 
lishments in use about Sheffield. Nevertheless the 
government was warned by the latter class, that the 
main object of the Bill,—to diminish the importation 
from Sweden,—would not be attained, because the 
American iron was inapplicable to the purposes for 
which Swedish iron was wanted: And it was also 
suggested ‘that if all the Iron manufacturers of Great 
Britain should be obliged to depend for their supply 
of Pig-iron from the Plantations, (which must ever 


73 


be precarious from the hazards of the sea and foreign 
enemies,) the manufactures themselves would pro¬ 
bably decay, and many thousand families be reduced 
to want and misery. 5 

The Birmingham Iron-dealers however, in their 
petition, asserted directly the reverse;—affirming the 
American iron to be as good in all respects as the 
Swedish : that consequently it could supply its place, 
and thus save much money to the nation; because 
while the Swedes were paid in hard money, which 
they laid out again directly with the enemies of 
Britain—the French,—the American colonist would 
receive pay for his iron in British manufactures of 
various kinds: that Great Britain did not now pro¬ 
duce half enough to carry on the manufacture, and 
therefore having to import it, it made no difference 
to the domestic iron-smelters whence it came: never¬ 
theless in view of every thing that could be said, and 
specially with regard to compelling the colonist to 
take his pay in kind , they prayed ‘that the Ameri¬ 
cans might be restrained from erecting any rolling 
and slitting mills or forges for making plates, as that 
would interfere with the manufacturers of Great 
Britain. 5 The act was finally passed as these last 
recommended. 

I do not know of any immediate local effect 
produced by this act, except in the tradition that a 
rolling and slitting mill belonging to Mr. Edward 
Dorsey, on the Patapsco, and near the present 
10 


74 


Avalon Works., was in consequence stopped. But 
this has not full confirmation in any existing docu¬ 
ments. 


It is probable that at this era, nearly all the estab¬ 
lishments which I am about to mention, as near the 
Chesapeake bay, were in existence. As there is no 
documentary evidence by which their chronological 
succession can be fixed, I shall arrange them in the 
order of their geographical position, beginning in the 
north-eastern side of the state and progressing west¬ 
ward. 

First in Cecil county was the Principio furnaee T 
on the Creek of the same name and near the present 
stack of Mr. Whittaker. This furnace claims a high 
antiquity, and was probably one of those originally 
erected by British capitalists. A part of its hearth 
is still standing. 

The erection of a forge on JN T orth-East, commonly 
called Russell’s forge* and now carried on by the 
proprietors of Principio Works, may be dated about 
the same time. But I have not been able to find 
any reference to the precise epoch of either estab¬ 
lishment. 

In Harford county was the Bush furnace, be¬ 
longing to John Lee Webster, not far from the village 
of the same name. But of this I have no farther 
information, than that in August, 1767, it was adver¬ 
tised for sale in the Maryland Gazette. 


75 


Of another furnace, called Onion’s, about one 
mile from Joppa, there is in the same paper under 
date of August, 1769, a more full description; but it 
is more on account of the local advantages than of 
the Works themselves, which do not appear to have 
been very extensive. About this era, (from 1765 to 
1770) seems to have been an unfortunate time for 
the Maryland furnaces,—at least those in the dis¬ 
trict under consideration, if we may judge from the 
frequency and earnestness with which they were 
exposed to sale. 

In both of the last mentioned establishments, the 
ore and particularly the wood are represented as 
being in great abundance; but the great difficulty 
with all seems to have been in the kind of labour, 
of which they made use. The hands employed 
were either convicts transported and indented here, 
or redemptioners as they were termed, viz: those 
whose services were sold for a term, to re-pay the 
expense of their passage. The unsettled condition 
of affairs about the time I have designated, is shewn 
by the number of advertisements in the same Journal 
already referred to, offering rewards, greater or less, 
for fugitive labourers of this kind, and slaves. I have 
been told, that seven or eight years later, the facili¬ 
ties which these persons had of enlisting in the army 
of the Revolution contributed no little to the cessa¬ 
tion of more than one iron establishment. 

Next in Baltimore county came the Hampton or 
Northampton furnace, erected by Messrs. Charles, 


76 


John, and Charles Ridgely about 1760. The latter 
name was the one by which it was most publicly 
known for the first ten years of its existence, if we 
may judge by the newspaper. The instrument of 
co-partnership of the three proprietors bears date on 
28 October, 1761; but the buildings were probably 
erected before, inasmuch as on 28 February, 1760, 
a return was made of a writ of condemnation, which 
Charles the Elder had, with curious caution, sued 
out and laid to cover one hundred acres of his own 
land :—thus setting it apart especially for Iron works, 
and defeating any actual or supposed right of the 
Lord Proprietary to assume in virtue of his Palati¬ 
nate, 63 the European royalty over mines of precious 
and other metals. To the same proprietors of this 
establishment belonged also the Long Cam forge 
on the Great Gunpowder. This forge I believe to 
have belonged at first in great part to persons in 
England, and to assert a higher antiquity than the 
furnace. Both forge and furnace stopped many 
years since. 

On Stemmer’s Run, was another furnace, about 
seven miles from Baltimore: and on Herring Run, 
the so called Kingsbury furnace. 

These are all east of Baltimore. But on Jones’ 
Falls, close to the city, and on the site of Bradford’s 
mill, was the Mount Royal forge. 

63 The act of May session, 1719, ch. 15, though not exactly applicable to 
this case, was yet, I suppose, in view of the proprietors, in this proceeding. 


77 


On a branch of Gwynn’s Falls stood the furnace 
of the Baltimore Company; belonging I believe, at 
one time, to a Mr. Dorsey, but now to Richard 
Caton, Esq.: and on the Patapsco, near Elkridge 
Landing, was the Elkridge furnace of Mr. Edward 
Dorsey, (who also owned the rolling mill at Avalon 
before mentioned,) now belonging to Andrew Elli- 
cott, Jr. Esq. The forge to the Elkridge furnace is 
still in existence^ and I believe used at Avalon. 

Where to locate the York furnace, belonging to 
Mr. Swope, an advertisement concerning which I 
have met with in the Maryland Gazette for 1765, I 
am ignorant;—the advertisement not defining the 
locality precisely. 

In Anne Arundel county, Thomas, Richard, and 
Edward Snowden owned the Patuxent furnace, and 
the Patuxent forge, now belonging to Messrs. E. T. 
Ellicott &, Co. 

The Curtis creek furnace, now Barker & Son’s, 
was I believe later than the epoch of which we are 
writing, and younger than the preceding. It was 
built by William Goodwin and Edward Dorsey of 
Avalon; and becoming the property of the co-part¬ 
ners (of whom Mr. Goodwin was one) in the Hamp¬ 
ton furnace, w^as in the adjustment of their affairs, 
sold to Mr. Barker. 

Ten or fifteen years before the Revolutionary war, 
the manufacture of iron in Frederick county is sup¬ 
posed to have had its origin;—first introduced by 


78 


foreigners or persons now unknown, and at a period 
somewhat later (1770-90,) actively encouraged by 
Messrs. James, Roger, Thomas, and Baker Johnson. 
The particulars which follow are derived from 
James Johnson, Esq. now of Baltimore, himself a 
descendant of this public-spirited family, and are 
generally in his own words. 

Old Hampton furnace, on Tom’s creek, about two 
miles west of Emmetsburg, but built by persons 
whose names have not survived, mav be dated in 
1760-65. It was soon discontinued for want of 
good ore; and its seat is now occupied by a mill. 

‘Legh furnace was built at nearly the same time, 
by an Englishman, Mr. Legh Master, at the head 
of Little Pipe creek, two or three miles south-west 
of Westminster; and shared the fate of Old Hamp¬ 
ton. I have understood,’ says Mr. Johnson, ‘that it 
did not make more than one or two blasts,—the 
ore proving unproductive, and the Iron indifferent. 
The site and part of the lands are in the possession 
of Messrs. Isaac and Thomas Vanbibber.’ 

Catoctin furnace, situate about twelve miles north¬ 
west of Frederick-town, and within a mile of the 
present furnace-stack, ‘was built in the year 1774, 
by James Johnson &, Co. and was carried on 
successfully until the year 1787;’ in which year, the 
same company erected the present furnace ‘about 
three-fourths of a mile further up Little Hunting 
creek, and nearer the ore banks. This was carried 


79 


on by James Johnson &, Co. until the year 1793, 
when a division was made between the brothers, by 
lot. The Catoctin fell to the share of Thomas and 
Baker Johnson ;—two-thirds to the former and one- 
third to the latter : who carried it on, not very suc¬ 
cessfully, until 1803, when Baker bought out the 
two-thirds of his brother, and rented it to Benjamin 
Blackford, for ten years, at c£l,100. At the expi¬ 
ration of Blackford’s lease, the property was sold 
by the executors of the proprietor to Willoughby 
and Thomas; and was, after their dissolution of 
partnership, carried on by Willoughby Mayberry, 
until the year 1820, when it was sold by trustees 
to John Brien, who made very expensive improve¬ 
ments. It is now in the possession of the heirs of 
Mr. Brien.’ The furnace was blown out in Novem¬ 
ber or December last; and I understand is not 
expected to be in blast again this year. 

The yield of the old Catoctin furnace is stated 
by Mr. Johnson, to have been from twelve to 
eighteen tons per week ; and the yield of the pre¬ 
sent is supposed to have been not materially diffe¬ 
rent. The ore which is worked, is brown hoema- 
tite, containing in its cavities more or less phosphate 
of iron. It has been represented to me as expen¬ 
sive to raise; and the quality of the metal produced 
not of first grade. In the ore also is associated 
carbonate of zinc; and the separation of this last 
metal has been very successfully effected, during the 


80 


fabrication of the national standards of weight and 
measure, by M. Hassler. 

Shortly after the erection of the first Catoctin 
furnace, (say in 1775-6,) the same proprietors 
erected on Bush creek, about two miles above its 
mouth, the Bush creek forge. ‘It consisted,’ says 
Mr. Johnson, ‘of a finery and chafery, and made 
from three to four tons of iron per week. A slit¬ 
ting and rolling mill was also erected, at the spot 
now known as Reel’s mill;—but after being carried 
on for a few years, was abandoned. The forge 
became the property of Col. James Johnson, and 
was kept in operation until 1810, when it was dis¬ 
continued. The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road 
now passes directly over the place of the hammer 
wheel.’ 

About the same epoch with the present Catoctin 
furnace, was erected by the same proprietors another 
furnace, situate on a small stream, one mile above 
the mouth of Monocacy, and called Johnson fur¬ 
nace. It was supplied with ore from the beds 
adjoining the Point -of Rocks : whence the material 
was delivered by wagons, and by boats on the 
Potomac, jointly. The product did not exceed 
twelve or fifteen tons per week: but the iron was 
of good quality. ‘Upon the division of the pro¬ 
perty, Johnson furnace fell ultimately to the share 
of Roger Johnson; who carried it on until some 
years after 1800.’ 


81 


In connection with this furnace, Roger Johnson 
‘erected on Big Bennett’s creek, about five miles 
above its junction with the Monocacy, Bloomsbury 
forge. This forge had a finery and chafery; and 
the weekly product was between four and five tons. 
It was also carried on very profitably, for a year or 
two, by working up stamp-stuff from the cinder 
heaps of old Catoctin.’ It was discontinued about 
the same time with Johnson furnace. 

‘Fielderea furnace was erected by Fielder Gantt, 
three miles south of Frederick-town, on the Harpers 
Ferry road; it made a blast, but the ore being un¬ 
productive and the iron of indifferent quality, it 
shared the same fate as old Hampton and Legh 
furnaces. The lands were divided into wood-lots, 
and sold out in the years 1791 and 1792. There is 
now a good grist-mill on the old furnace site, be¬ 
longing to the family of the late John Hoffman, of 
Frederick-town.’ 

Such are the particulars which I have been able 

to obtain, concerning the manufacture of Iron in 

Frederick countv. 

%/ 

In Washington county, the Messrs. Johnson were 
hardly less active than in Frederick county. As 
far back as 1770, James Johnson, before mentioned, 
superintended (for Mr. Jacques and Governor John¬ 
son, under the firm of Jacques and Johnson,) the 
erection of ‘Green Spring furnace, situate on Green 
Spring run, within one mile of its entrance into the 
11 


82 


Potomac, and one mile from old Fort Frederick. 
It was carried on a few years; but the ore was not 
productive, and the iron of inferior quality. 

‘Licking creek forge, on Licking creek, and near 
its mouth, was built by the same firm and under 
the same direction, after the erection of Green 
Spring furnace; by which it was supplied with 
pig-iron. Some time afterward, it was sold to Mr. 
Chambers, of Chambersburg, who carried it on for 
several years, with pig supplied from his furnace 
in Pennsylvania. 

‘Mount Etna furnace, on a branch of the Antie- 
tam, five or six miles north of Hagerstown, was 
built by Samuel and Daniel Hughes, about the same 
time with the Green Spring furnace; and was car¬ 
ried on successfully for many years. 5 

This furnace is remarkable, as having cast, for the 
first time in Maryland, cannon during the Revolu¬ 
tionary war. ‘An eighteen pounder of its manufac¬ 
ture is now lying on Barracks Hill near Frederick 
Town. 5 —It was discontinued before the beginning of 
this century. 

In connection with this furnace, and not more than 
one mile and a half distant, the same proprietors also 
built the Antietam forge, about four miles north of 
Hagerstown; which, after the stoppage of the fur¬ 
nace, was for some years supplied with pig-iron 
from Pennsylvania. 

The present Antietam Works were built by Messrs. 


83 


Henderson and Ross, about 1775-80. After carry¬ 
ing them on successfully many years, they came into 
possession of the family of the present proprietors. 
These works will be again mentioned; in speaking of 
the existing establishments in Maryland. 

It may not be amiss to present here; in one view, 
a list of those furnaces in Frederick and Washington, 
about which I have not thought myself allowed to 
omit the interesting particulars given above, together 
with their respective dates, and the names of their 
first proprietors. I hope that if any omission shall 
have been made, or any date given too vaguely, 
those who may have more exact information will 
communicate it to me. 


Iron Manufactories in Washington County. 


Date. 

Name. 

By whom erected. 

Discontinued. 

1770 

Green Spring Furnace, 

Jacques & Johnson, 

about 1775 

<e 

Licking Creek Forge, 

do. 

do. 

1780 

1771 

Mount Etna Furnace, 

S. & D. Hughes, 

do. 

1795 

(C 

Antietam Forge, 

do. 

do. 

1800 

1775-80 Antietam Works, 

Henderson & Ross, 

still active. 


Manufactories in Frederick County. 


1760-65 Old Hampton Furnace, 
1762-65 Legh Furnace, 

1774 Old Catoctin Furnace, 
1775-76 Bush Creek Forge, 
1787 Catoctin Furnace, 
1785-90 Johnson Furnace, 
1787-90 Bloomsbury Forge, 
1789-90 Fielderea Furnace, 


Legh Master, 

- 1765-6 

1765-6 

Jas. Johnson & Co. 

1787 

do. 

1810 

do. 

still active. 

do. 

1800-5 

Roger Johnson, 

1800-5 

Fielder Gantt, 

1791 




84 


From these details, which I have collected as to 
the early iron manufactories in Maryland, I shall 
pass to an account of existing establishments. 

In speaking of these, I shall pursue the same 
order of geographic position, in which I have treated 
of their predecessors. First, then, comes the Prin- 
cipio furnace; belonging to Messrs. G. P. Whittaker 
&, Co., situate on Principio creek, and very near 
the track of the Philadelphia and Wilmington Rail 
Road. 

The present furnace stack, which is about one 
hundred and fifty yards lower down the creek than 
the ancient one before spoken of, was built by Mr. 
Hughes about the year 1800. It was injured and 
partially destroyed, during the occupation of the 
adjoining district by the British, in the war of 1812; 
but was subsequently repaired and carried on by the 
same proprietor, until 1817-18. It then went out 
of blast, and so laid until 1836, when it was pur¬ 
chased, together with a large body of land, by its 
present proprietors, who have conducted it success¬ 
fully ever since. 

The stack itself is thirty-three feet high, from the 
hearth to the charging plate; and the diameter of 
the boshes is eight and one-third feet. The water 
of the creek furnishes the motive power (about 
fifteen horse-power) of the blast, which passes into 
the furnace through one tuyere pipe, under an 
average pressure of 1| pound per square inch. The 


85 


trundle-head is also provided with an apparatus for 
heating the air; which is used or not, according to 
circumstances, and the train in which the furnace is 
desired to be put. 

The ore used at this establishment comes princi¬ 
pally from the beds near the Spring Gardens, Balti¬ 
more ; from whence it is carried by water to within 
four hundred yards of the furnace. It came nearer, 
before the rail road passed between the landing and 
the furnace-yard. A part also comes from Iron Hill, 
near Elkton. The former is an altered carbonate 
of iron, and yields upon an average from 35 to 40 
per cent. The latter is represented to me as a 
brown hematite, giving from 45 to 50 per cent. 
The specimen which I have seen, however, I should 
consider as a siliceous carbonate of iron. The flux 
used here with these ores is oyster-shells. 

The average annual yield is estimated at 1100 tons. 

In the same county (Cecil) and situate on the 
North-east river, is a furnace, not now in blast, 
erected in 1810 by Messrs. Sheredine and Russell. 
It was run only about four years, till 1814. 

The forge on the same stream (the old Russell 
forge before mentioned) is now carried on by the 
proprietors of the Principio works : as well as the 
Elk Iron-works, situate on the Elk, about four miles 
north of Elkton. These last are mills only for the 
manufacture of sheet iron, boiler-plate, and nails. 
The crude iron from Principio is used up at these 


86 


two establishments. All these works together give 
employment to not less than 150 labourers and 
artisans. 

Of the rolling-mill ; on the Octorara ; belonging to 
Mr. Roman; as well as of the forge/ 4 about four 
miles above ; on the same stream; belonging to the 
heirs of Mr. James HopkinS; I present here no par¬ 
ticulars : as these manufactures do not form part of 
the subject of this Report. The same is to be said 
of the forges of S. Stevens &, Co. situate on the 
river Elk ; which I have not yet visited. 

The next establishment is the La Grange Iron¬ 
works; on Deer creek in Harford county ; belonging 
to Messrs. J. Rogers and Son. This consists of a 
furnace and forge ; the latter erected by Mr. John 
Withers in 1832; the former by the present pro¬ 
prietors in 1836. The furnace is ; I presume; about 
twenty-eight feet in height from hearth to charging 
plate : the boshes are six feet in diameter. The 
water of the creek is used to drive the blast; which 
is cold. 

The ore ; which 'is a brown hematite of good 
quality and yielding about 50 per cent, of iron ; is 
procured from beds distant six miles ; in a south¬ 
westerly direction; from the furnace. The flux is 
lime-stone; obtained about one mile farther than the 
ore banks; in the same direction. The average 

64 Since writing the text, I am informed there is at the same place a fur¬ 
nace-stack ; which is not, however, in blast. 


87 


annual yield is estimated at 1170 tons; and the bar- 
iron is stated to be excellent. 65 Of the forge I do 
not offer any details; but the entire establishment 
employs about 72 men and 29 horses and mules. 

Harford furnace, belonging to Messrs. Patterson, 
was erected in 1830, but has been during the wdnter 
of 1839, taken down for the purpose of rebuilding. 
Of it, therefore* I do not present any account, nor of 
the other works connected with it, which do not 
come within the scope of this Report. 

On Curtis creek is situated the furnace of Messrs. 
J. Barker and Son, on the site of the establishment 
before mentioned of Messrs. Goodwin and Dorsey— 
the precise date of w 7 hich I cannot give. 

This furnace is thirty feet high, and nine and a 
half feet boshes. The blast is driven by the water 
of the creek, wdiich also turns three other wheels 
for different purposes connected with the establish¬ 
ment. The machinery for the blast furnishes about 
nine hundred cubic feet per minute through one 
tuyere-pipe; whose structure presents a peculiarity 
that merits attention. The diameter of the nozzle is 
at the extremity six inches: in which nozzle, works 
(by a lever regulated from without,) a plug of five 
and a quarter inches in diameter. The withdrawal 
or approach of this plug, in regard to the extremity 
of the nozzle, increases or diminishes the area of the 
circular zone through which the air is driven into 


65 Ducatel: Geolog. Rep. 1838, p. 5. 


88 


the furnace, and thus regulates with more delicacy 
than the ordinary throttle, the quantity of air fur¬ 
nished ; while the greater diffusion of the blast is 
supposed (and I think with probability) to leave 
ample room for all its useful effect, with less danger 
of any deterioration or derangement in the hearth, 
attendant upon too great pressure and sharpness of 
the entering current. 

The ore used here comes in part from beds near 
to the furnace, and in part from the same locality 
which furnishes the Principio furnace. The flux 
used is oyster-shells: and the iron produced at this 
establishment has a high character for toughness and 
tenacity. 

At the same place there is also a foundry, erected 
in 1829, belonging to Messrs. Barker; who likewise 
have one in the city of Baltimore, that dates as far 
back as 1810. These two foundries convert into 
castings about two-thirds of the quantity made at the 
furnace. This quantity, in an average blast of nine 
months, is estimated at 1100 tons. The entire es¬ 
tablishment employs through the year 150 men and 
30 horses and mules. The facilities which its situa¬ 
tion gives it for water-carriage much diminishes the 
expense in the latter regard. 

Close by the mouth of the harbour of Baltimore, 
and on Locust point, is situate the Patapsco furnace, 
of Messrs. E. T. Ellicott &, Co., erected by them in 
1835. The height of this furnace is thirty feet, and 


89 


diameter of boshes six feet. It is blown, like all the 
furnaces I have mentioned, with one tuyere; and 
the motive power to the blast is a steam engine of 
twenty horse-power. 

The ore comes mainly, I believe, from the locality 
before mentioned; but some used to be procured 
from beds at the furnace. The average product per 
annum is rated at 1000 tons. 

This furnace is worthv of remark from the mode 

•J 

of its structure; which is both more economical and 
more effective than the ordinary way of building 
used in Maryland. The arrangements in connec¬ 
tion with the preparation of charcoal, which is made 
in ovens , are also worthy of note. I cannot doubt 
but that, under suitable management, a considerable 
economy must attend their use. 

Connected with this furnace are puddling furnaces 
and roughing-rolls: which use up all the pig made 
by the furnace, and furnish the bars to be re-manu¬ 
factured, to the Avalon Works. 

The same proprietors own also the Patuxent 
furnace, erected by themselves in 1831-2, at the site 
of Snowden’s forge on the Little Patuxent, which 
has been before mentioned. The height of this fur¬ 
nace is twenty-eight feet; the diameter of the boshes 
eight feet. The blast is driven by the water power 
of the stream through one tuyere, and with the 
pressure (usual through all the Maryland furnaces) 
of 1J pounds per square inch. 

12 


90 


The ore comes from points near to the furnace 
and is an altered carbonate, in which are associated 
crystals of the peroxide of iron. It is smelted with 
facility, and yields 50 per cent, of iron. I believe 
that use has also been made of the forge-cinder, 
which had accumulated in considerable quantities at 
the spot. The flux of both furnaces is oyster-shells : 
and their average duration of blast, nine months. 

Like the Patapsco furnace, there are puddling 
furnaces and roughing-rolls here also: and the an¬ 
nual product, estimated at 1200 tons, is converted 
into bars, and sent to the Avalon Works to be 

s 

finished. 

The Avalon Works are exclusively devoted to 
the manufacture of bar-iron. I present therefore 
no particulars in regard to them, except that their 
capacity is rated at the fabrication of 4500 tons per 
annum: and that, in connexion with the two fur¬ 
naces just now described, not less than 360 labourers 
and artizans, and 150 horses, mules, and oxen are 
employed. 

In 1826, the Elkridge furnace was erected by 
Andrew Ellicott, Jr. and Brothers, near Elkridge 
landing. The furnace is thirty-two feet high, with 
boshes of eight and a half feet. The blast is driven 
by water from the Patapsco, and is carried into the 
furnace by one tuyere. 

The ore occurs in the vicinity; and I believe the 
position of the race for the water wheel is favourable 


\ 


91 


for the transportation of some considerable quantity. 
It is of the same character with the ores all along the 
western verge of the Chesapeake. 

The duration of the blast is from nine to ten 
months: and the average annual product, which has 
been stated to me at 1400 tons, is almost entirely 
produced in castings of various kinds, principally 
water and gas pipes. The iron is of good quality; 
and I have had occasion to notice the advantage of 
its being mixed with some other pig to produce 
castings of the second fusion, in which the maxi¬ 
mum of stiffness and tenacity was desirable. 

This establishment gives occupation to at least 100 
hands, and 50 horses, mules, and oxen. 

I believe that at the Savage Factory, on the Pa¬ 
tuxent river, and connected with the Baltimore and 
Washington Rail Road by a branch railway, a fur¬ 
nace has been recently erected. But I have not had 
opportunity to ascertain any particulars or results. 
At the same place a foundry has been for some time 
in successful operation. 

In regard to the Catoctin furnace in Frederick 
county, and the Antietam Works in Washington 
county, I have not been favoured with any particu¬ 
lars to add to what I have already said in regard to 
their past condition. 

As far back as 1833, in a report made jointly by 
my colleague, the State-Geologist and myself, the 


92 


importance of the Coal-region of George’s creek and 
Jennings’ Run in Allegany county, was pointed out 
specially with regard to the manufacture of iron: for 
which local circumstances, similar to those which 
have proved of such valuable occurrence in Wales, 
seemed to shew an extraordinary aptitude. The 
attention of capitalists having been drawn to this 
region, many charters of incorporation were pro¬ 
cured; and in 1839, the George’s Creek Company 
commenced the manufacture of iron, (almost for the 
first time in America) with coke, and subsequently 
with raw coal. Their furnace erected at Lonaconing, 
about eight miles south-west of the National Road at 
Frostburg, is fifty feet high and fourteen and a half 
feet boshes, blown by a Steam engine of 60 horse¬ 
power, through two tuyeres. The air was heated by 
. stoves placed near the tuyere arches, and attained a 
temperature of 700° F., and was driven, under an 
average pressure of 2J pounds per square inch, in 
quantity to 3200 cubic feet per minute. 

The ores, which are carbonates of iron, were 
procured from drifts a few hundred yards from the 
furnace, and yielded an average of 34 per cent, of 
metallic iron. The flux was the carboniferous lime¬ 
stone obtained from the same hill. Connected with 
the furnace is also a foundry, for making machine 
and other castings. 

The average weekly product of this furnace was 
75 tons: and the whole establishment gave employ- 


93 


menl to upwards of 220 hands and 20 horses and 
oxen. 

In the same coal-basin, and about nine miles north- 
east of Lonaconing, I am informed that another char¬ 
tered association, called the New York and Maryland 
Iron and Coal Company, are about to erect furnaces, 
similar in dimensions and capacity. 

On the waters of Bear creek, a branch of the Yo- 
hogany river, and near the village of Friendville, was 
erected in 1828-9, by proprietors acting under a 
charter, the Yohogany Iron Works, consisting of a 
furnace and two forges. Although situate in a coal 
region, the abundance and cheapness of wood in¬ 
duced the manufacture of iron with charcoal; but 
I believe that the want of suitable communications, 
which were of public interest and were anticipated 
to be constructed within a shorter date than events 
have justified, rendered the cost of the article when 
at its market too high, to allow a proper remunera¬ 
tion to the establishment. Since 1834, I think it 
has been inactive. I am not in possession of docu¬ 
ments to show its capacity or results when in ope¬ 
ration. 

The preceding pages give account of all the fur¬ 
naces on the Western Shore. There remains only 
one on the Eastern Shore to be spoken of: this is 
the Naseongo furnace, situate on the Naseongo 
river, about five miles from Snow-Hill, in Worces¬ 
ter county; erected I learn by Mr. Mark Richards, 


94 


of Philadelphia, in the year 1830, but now belong¬ 
ing to Mr. T. A. Spence. The information which I 
have in regard to it, is not more recent than 1834; 
before it passed into the hands of the present pro¬ 
prietor. 

The ore used is bog-ore , coming from a locality 
about one mile north-west of the furnace. I believe 
this is the only instance in Maryland of the employ¬ 
ment in quantity of this kind of ore; which is easily 
smelted, but does not yield over 29 per cent, of iron. 

i 

The average annual product was, at the date I have 
mentioned, 700 tons, during a blast of about eight 
months in the year. It is probable that this quan¬ 
tity is increased, under the personal supervision of 
the present owner. 

For particulars relating to the average cost of 
charcoal iron in Maryland, I refer to another chap¬ 
ter; and what has been already said comprehends 
the most satisfactory account of the subjects treated 
of, which circumstances have allowed me to prepare. 


CHAPTER II. 


Metallurgic and Geographic Distribution of the Ores of Iron. 


A full account of the minerals with which iron 
is associated^ so as to form a considerable or princi¬ 
pal part, has been given by M. Berthier in his Traite 
des Essais par la Voie Seche, and by Dr. Thomson 
in his Outlines of Mineralogy, Geology, and Mineral 
Analysis. But this account includes as well those 
which are used in the manufacture of iron, as those 
which furnish materials for the other branches of the 
arts, and those finally which are objects of scientific 
interest or curiosity. It will be sufficient for the 
purposes of the present Report, that I include only 
the former class; which may be called workable iron 
ores: and that in their order, I classify them in the 
respective proportions of simplicity, with which the 
metallic iron is associated with other substances. 

Although not literally an ore of iron, (i. e. not 
mined as such) yet capable of being worked as such 
when procured, may be placed: 

1. Native Iron: —The testimonies as to the 
occurrence of this substance appear to be too direct 


96 


and unexceptionable, to warrant our withdrawing 
our belief in its existence. Besides the specimens 
mentioned by Dr. Thomson, 1 M. Schreber is said 
by Dr. Ure to have discovered a well-characterized 
specimen near Grenoble; Professor Olmsted has 
included an instance of it, (the piece weighed two 
pounds.) in a description of minerals found in Ran¬ 
dolph county, N. C., though this is more likely, I 
think, to have been meteoric; and Professor Silli- 
man 2 mentions a mass upwards of three thousand 
pounds, which had been forwarded from Trinity 
river, Louisiana, to New York. This last has 
however since been determined to be of meteoric 
origin. 

The specific gravity of specimens from Canaan in 
Connecticut, Dr. Thomson states at 5.95 to 6.72; 
the weight of water being 1. 

Although other substances may be by accident 
mechanically associated with the iron, in its chemical 
constitution it may be considered pure metallic iron. 

2. Meteoric Iron, (or as some have called 

» 

Native nickeliferous Iron, from its always contain¬ 
ing nickel) has been found in various parts of the 
globe: and as it has in some cases actually been 
worked, it is not excluded here. A remarkable 
specimen was discovered by Pallas on the Jenisei, 
in Siberia, where the Tartars had reverenced it as 


i Outlines, &c. vol. i. p. 431. 


2 Journal of Science, vol. iii. p. 45. 


97 


sacred; and Don Michael Rubin de Celis discovered 
at Otumba in the old province of Chaco, near 
Buenos Ayres, in 1783, a mass weighing three 
hundred quintals, or about fifteen tons. ‘On cutting 
ofi pieces/ says the writer, 3 C I found the whole full 
ol cavities, as if it had been formerly in a liquid 
state. I was confirmed in this idea, by observing on 
the surface of it the impressions as of human feet 
and hands, of a large size; as well as the feet of 
large birds, which are common in this country. 
Though these impressions seem very perfect, yet 
I am persuaded they are either a lusus nature; or 
that impressions of this nature were previously on 
the ground, and that the liquid mass of iron falling 
on it received them.’ 

There was still in the British Museum, in 
October, 1839, a large piece of Meteoric Iron, 
(weighing 1400 or 1500 pounds,) which was sup¬ 
posed to be a part of this identical meteorite; as 
also a piece detached from the Siberian discovery of 
Pallas. Besides these there are as many as twelve 
different localities, represented by iron of this or the 
preceding sort, in the cases of the Museum. More 
than one place in Africa, Bohemia, Saxony, the 
Milanese, Mexico, and Brazil, have all sent their 
contributions. There may be also seen a knife and 
harpoon made of meteoric iron by the Esquimaux; 

3 Phil. Trans. 1788, p. 37. 

13 


98 


and brought in by Captain Parry, I believe, from 
Davis 3 * 5 Straits. 

The meteoric mass or thunderbolt from which, in 
1620, the Shah Jehanguire had fabricated some ex¬ 
cellent sabres (which case I alluded to, when I said 
it had been actually worked) is more remarkable 
from the curious mention which the Shah makes of 
it in his autobiography, 4 than for its size, (which was 
only five or six pounds,) or any other circumstance. 

There is a peculiarity in meteoric iron, that it is 
not liable to rust. 

Its specific gravity is 7.3: and in six analyses, 
which Dr. Thomson gives, the proportion of nickel 
varied from 1.5 to 8.58 per cent. The chemical 
proportion of union or association is probably, as 
stated in the same place, 5 10 atoms of Iron united 
with 1 atom of Nickel. 

3. Magnetic Iron Ore.— This is so called 
because (except the titaniferous iron ore from 

Brazil) it is the only ore of iron attracted by the 
magnet, without .the application of heat. 

The mode of its occurrence, although its geolo¬ 
gical position is in the primitive formations, is very 
varied; it being found sometimes in beds, as in 
Savoy and Piedmont, the Tyrolese and Vosges; 
sometimes in bands or a series of bands, as at 
Dannemora in Sweden, Arendal in Norway, in the 


4 Phil. Tran. 1803, p. 202. 


4 Outlines, etc. vol. 1. p. 433. 


99 


Ural mountains, etc.; it forms the mass of considera¬ 
ble mountains, as at Taberg in Smoland; and is also 
worked, as in the kingdom of Naples, near the sea, 
in small grains, in the character of sand. 

The available deposites, of the greatest reputation, 

of this ore are in Sweden, which furnishes from it 

* 

annually to Great Britain a quantity of iron not less 
than 16,000 tons; to be there employed principally in 
the manufacture of steel. Its superior tenacity and 
elasticity are by Mr. Tredgold attributed to the me¬ 
thods of making it; it being shingled altogether under 
the hammer, instead of the squeezers and rolls of 
the English manufacturer. The peculiarity of the 
ore itself, and its exemption to a great degree from 
any admixture of earthy and foreign matters, (Dr. 
Thomson found only 1| per cent, of silica associated 
with the peroxide of iron,) has in all probability the 
greatest influence. The methods of manufacture are 
nearly the same in all the Swedish establishments, 
and the workmen were transplanted from those to 
the Siberian works of Count DemidofT; yet the value 
set upon the iron from Dannemora and Neviamskoi 
is by no means the same, there being five or six 
brands which are between them. 

This ore occurs also in several localities in Mary¬ 
land, along the primary range in Cecil, Harford, and 
Baltimore counties; and also, Dr. Ducatel has found 
it on Parr’s Ridge, in Carroll county: but I believe 
no deposite has yet been found sufficient to warrant 


* 


100 

its being worked for metallurgic use. It was at one 
time worked at Schooley’s mountain, New Jersey. 

The specific gravity of a pure specimen was found 
by Dr. Thompson to be 5.092; and its chemical 
composition has been determined by the same ope¬ 
rator and the Swedish chemist Berzelius, to be 1 
atom or equivalent of Iron united with I 3 atoms of 
Oxygen; thus constituting the most simple known 
compound of iron with any other substance. 

4. Specular Iron Ore. —This is also called by the 
French mineralogists fer oligiste; the mineral being 
itself almost iron. It occurs both among crystallized 
and sedimentary rocks; and varieties of the species 
may be found, apparently of daily formation, amid 
the lava of Vesuvius, and in ancient and existing 
solfaterras, as of Tolfa and Guadaloupe. The most 
celebrated deposite of it is in the island of Elba, 
where it has been worked for more than two thou¬ 
sand years; but there are other very striking locali¬ 
ties: such as Gellivara in Lapland, and Sommorostro 
in Biscay, where it forms (as the preceding class,) 
the massif of large mountains; Framont in the de¬ 
partment of the Vosges, the only point in France, I 
believe, at present furnishing it; Norberg in Den¬ 
mark, and the Minas Geraes in Brazil, where it 
exists in very extensive beds; and finally, like the 
magnetic ores, as sand upon the shores of the island 
of Elba, whence it is exported under the name of 
poulette . 


It is met with also in many places in the United 
States: at Montague in Connecticut, is a very con¬ 
siderable deposite, according to Mr. Hitchcock; in 
the basin of the Monocacy, and on the Catoctin 
mountain in Maryland, it also occurs; and Mr. 
Tyson speaks of a favourable locality near Liberty, 
avail of which, however, the scarcity of fuel on the 
spot and difficulty of transportation from it hitherto 
have prevented from being taken. 

The metal from this ore is much esteemed, and 
is hardly inferior to that produced from the magnetic 
oxides. From this was made the Celtiberian iron, 
which we have seen was so celebrated y in ancient 
times,—a fame from which the Bilboa blades have 
not detracted; and, indeed, in many of the Swedish 
mines it is associated with, and in the working is 
not separated from, the magnetic ore. 

Under the name of red hcematite , too, the ores of 
this class are widely extended; they form those im¬ 
portant deposites in Cumberland, England, so useful 
to mixture with the more southern ores, and con¬ 
stitute the principal part of the mining about Lau- 
terberg and Altenau in the Hartz. 

The compact red iron ore , occurring at Lavoulte 
in France, in veins fifty to sixty feet thick, belongs 
also to the same class, as well as red ochre; which 
last is sometimes used with advantage to mix with 
poorer ores. 

The specific gravity of the specular ore, the type of 


102 


this class, is 5.251; and when pure, it is entirely a 
peroxide of iron. It is chemically composed, then, 
of 1 atom of Iron united with 1| atoms of Oxygen. 

5 . Fibrous Brown Haematite. —In the ores of 
the preceding classes, the iron has not been found 
united, except accidentally and to an unimportant 
extent, with any other substance save oxygen. We 
come now to a class where Water is a permanent 
additional element, in proportion from 10 to 15 per 
cent., in the constitution of the ore. To this, Dr. 
Thomson has given the name of Hydrous Peroxide 
of Iron; it is the limonite of M. Beudant and others; 
and the views of both will be preserved, by taking 
as the true type of the class the fibrous brown 
hcematite , long known in our own region. 

This type and a variety, the compact brown he¬ 
matite, furnish a great part of the iron of France; 
the deposites in Lancashire, about Whitehaven, in 
England, which are of enormous extent, are a va¬ 
riety (the reniform) of this class;—the oolitic variety, 
in which small globules, or egg-like masses, are held 
together by a calcareous or argillaceous cement, 
covers a considerable extent in Burgundy and Lor¬ 
raine, and is found also in Carinthia and Styria;— 
the granular hydrates , or ferriferous sand, are 
worked to advantage in the department of Doubs 
and in Normandy in France, in parts of Switzer¬ 
land, in Silesia, Bavaria, Poland; and finally, as 
bog-iron ore , it is profitably mixed with other ores, 



103 


as in the lowlands of Silesia and Livonia, or used 
alone, as at Naseongo in this State. I do not know 
that the brown ochre , (strictly so called) belonging 
to this class, which furnishes a pigment and is used 
in other branches of the arts, has been employed 
to aid in the production of iron; though it is very 
capable of rendering important assistance. 

Varieties of this species, somewhat altered by 
atmospheric exposure or other circumstances, have 
been also extensively worked in Maryland ; as at the 
Hampton furnace, at the Harford furnace, where it 
is carried from a point near the Baltimore and Sus¬ 
quehanna Rail Road, and at the Lagrange furnace, 
in Harford county; at the Catoctin furnace, in Fre¬ 
derick county, where it is associated, as before said, 
with carbonate of zinc; and near the Point of Rocks, 
where the Potomac cuts through the Catoctin moun¬ 
tain, whence it is taken for the use of the Antietam 
furnace in Washington county. At the last men¬ 
tioned locality, it is earthy and ochreous, constituting 
what is termed by the workmen, pipe ore . 

Generally, in all of this kind of ore at the eastern 
base of the Catoctin mountain, there is more or less 
of an earthy phosphate of iron, filling the cavities of 
the mass. 

The specific gravity of the type is 3.922, according 
to Haidinger; and in chemical constitution is com¬ 
posed of 1 atom of Water, 1 atom of Iron, and 1| 
atoms of Oxygen : or, for the purposes of this classi- 


104 


fication, it may be considered as 1 atom of Water 
with 1 atom of pure Specular oxide. There are 
always associated from 3 to 10 per cent, of impu¬ 
rities, which are made up (in proportions nearly 
equal) of silica, alumina, and manganese. In the 
bog-iron ores , there is generally present more or less 
phosphate of iron. Such is the case at the Naseongo 
furnace. 

6. Carbonate of Iron. —I have taken this as the 
type of a class, more widely extended and more pro¬ 
ductive than any other on earth. It is variously 
known under the names of sparry iron ore , fer spa - 
thiqae , argillaceous iron ore , and siderose: but there 
may be made of it two principal divisions, the crys¬ 
talline or sparry , and the argillaceous or lithoid ; the 
former occurring in beds and pockets, in the primary 
rocks,—the latter in the newer formations, and espe¬ 
cially stratified among the coal measures. The fa¬ 
cility with which the former can be reduced, ren¬ 
dered it of abundant introduction in the smelting 
houses of the ancients; it was from this ore, that the 
Styrian works turned out the metal so favourably 
known before our era as the JYorican iron; and the 
name of steel ore , under which it has been designa¬ 
ted by some, from the readiness with which it fur¬ 
nishes a steel at the first treatment, is not less a test 
of its value. 

But the other variety, argillaceous iron ore , the fer 
carbonaU lithoide of the French mineralogists, is even 


105 


more valuable; not so much from the excellence of 
the metal produced, as from the cheapness with 
which the position and extractability of the ores allow 
an article, of sufficiently good quality, to obtain in 
general use and for a surprising variety of purposes. 
Its economy arises as well from the improved me¬ 
thods of manufacture now employed, as from its as¬ 
sociation with the beds of fuel for smelting it, and 
from their being in many cases actually taken out to¬ 
gether. Indeed, these ores in Great Britain came 
only into use when, about one hundred years ago, 
pit-coal began to be employed instead of charcoal 
of wood; and in mining the coal, attention was also 
drawn to the ores which accompanied it. 

They furnish now nearly the whole enormous 
product of Great Britain;—they are beginning to 
be used in France, where, as in the departments of 
the Nord, Loire, and Allier, they exist in abun¬ 
dance ;—they return a small part of the metal from 
the Harz;—they are profitably employed to some 
extent in the bituminous coal fields of Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, and Virginia, in America; and finally, they are 
now lately worked with good success in this State, 
in the Allegany coal field about to be approached by 
the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

I had purposed to present here a comparative 
view, derived from my own observation, aided by 
those of others, of the positions of this ore in Eng- 

14 


106 


* f 

land and in America, and the methods of extraction 
in the former country; but fully to explain it, would 
require a more systematic and voluminous work than 
can be expected now. The following general re¬ 
marks may suffice. 

The principal iron districts in England are Gla¬ 
morgan and Monmouth in Wales, the neighborhoods 
of Dudley and Bilston in Staffordshire, and the vici¬ 
nity of Glasgow in Scotland. In the first district, 
that of Wales, there are altogether sixteen beds in 
which the ore occurs and is worked,—either continu¬ 
ous in bands, or in balls that sometimes touch or lap 
over one another, but always appear to have a sort 
of stratification. The average thickness of all these 
beds, taken together, is about eight feet; and the 
proportion of the metal, about 33 per cent, of the 
ore. M. Dufrenoy estimates the extent of this basin 
at 935 square miles; which, however, is not all avail¬ 
able, in consequence partly of the local circumstances 
of the ground, and partly from the dislocations, irre¬ 
gularities, and faults in the strata. Such is the case 
at Merthyr. 

In the Staffordshire basin, the number of beds is 
greater, and I think also the quantity of iron; though 
from its great depth below the surface, it is not so 
easily availed of as the Welch ores. The total thick¬ 
ness of the seams that are or have been worked, may 
be taken at about five feet; and the proportion of 

metal about 30 per cent, of the ore,—it being in this 

* 

respect inferior to the Welch basin. 


107 


The ores and general features of the Glasgow basin 
have in the last ten years become extensively known, 
principally from an account and description by Dr. 
Colquhoun, to which I refer; 6 and which has been 
copied from the Journal where it first appeared, in 
1827-28, into several other scientific publications. 

The number of beds in this field, that have been 
explored, is fourteen; making a total thickness of 
nearly five feet: and the average proportion of metal 
is rather less than 33 per cent. But some of the 
beds, to which the greatest resort is had, yield con¬ 
siderably more; as for instance MusheVs black band , 
as it is termed, gives 42 per cent, of iron. 

In the coal-basin of George’s creek, and Jennings’ 
run, in Maryland, these ores occur in considerable 
quantity. At Lonaconing there are twenty-two beds, 
varying in thickness from two to twelve inches; some 
of the beds are in continuous bands, others in flat¬ 
tened nodules, built together as it were in some 
places, in others merely contiguous. The aggregate 
thickness of all the beds yet explored and approached 
by drift, (no shafts having been sunk below the level 
of the creek,) may be taken at seven feet, and the 
proportion of iron 34 per cent, of the ore. 

The following table exhibits the results of various 
analyses, made on ores from different points of this 
basin : 

« Brewster’s Edinburgh Journal, vol. vii. p. 224. 


Analysis of Iron-ores from Allegany County, Maryland, 


108 


te= 

47. 

16.10 

trace 

• • 

28.80 

7.10 

' 

ci 

© 


SO O 05 ‘O o 

Ci Oq .. w - 

ro Tf h ,.h o6 

Tf r-l G-i 

96.50 

= 

46. 

19. 

0.50 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 

27. 

5.50 

00 

© 


46.45 

14. 

5.60 

trace 

trace 

28.47 

♦ • 

9 9 

94.52 

++ 

39.63 

17. 

0.70 

1.49 

5.50 
31.86 

• ♦ 

• « 

96.48 

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109 


Under this class may also be mentioned the altered 
ores, occurring in the secondary regions near to and 
below Baltimore. 

These ores occur in the form of ‘nodules varying 
in size from a few inches to several feet in diameter. 
The composition of these nodules in many localities 
is gradually changed into the hydroxide of iron— 
the cavities are, however, often lined with crystals of 
pure carbonate of iron, approaching nearest to that 
form called mixte by Hauy. 5 7 

7. Silicated Iron Ore. —The silicates of iron 
are not worked in America, nor in England, where 
there is even a prejudice against them. Neverthe¬ 
less there are silicates of iron, in which the metal is 
in sufficient proportion, and its associates not too in¬ 
fusible upon proper admixture, to render the smelt¬ 
ing of them profitable. ‘Such are/ says M. Walter 
de Saint-Ange, ‘ferruginous garnets, basalt charged 
with oxidulated iron, the silicated iron ore of Kup- 
ferrath, cronstedtite, and jasper. 

‘At the works of Ardon they already treat the 
chamoisite; which is green, very fusible, magnetic 
before and after roasting, and yielding 43 per cent, 
of excellent iron. 

‘At Lendersdorf they use the silicated iron ore of 
Kupferrath; and in the principality of Henneberg 
in the environs of Suhl, they treat a garnet, of a 


7 Trans. Maryland Acad, of Sc. vol. i. p. 104. 


110 


reddish brown colour and regular form. The iron 
produced from this last is of excellent quality. 

‘Basalt, garnet, and the common jasper, are 
especially fit for entering the service of Metallurgy, 
because of the abundance in which they are found 
in different countries. Volcanic basalt exists in con¬ 
siderable masses in the departments of Cantal, Puy 
de Dome, etc.; in Scotland, Ireland, the Hebrides, 
and in Germany. Garnet is in abundance in Bohe¬ 
mia, Silesia, Hungary, Spain, Corsica, Italy, and in 
many places in France. Jasper occurs in the form 
of thick beds, sometimes of entire mountains; and 
is found in Sicily, Piedmont and Siberia—also in 
France, in the departments of Isere and the Higher 
Alps. 5 

Taking as the type of this class the chamoisite 
mentioned by M. Saint-Ange, occurring at Chamoi- 
sin in the Valais ‘in thick and numerous beds, in a 
limestone mountain abounding in ammonites, and 
probably therefore belonging to the lias formation, 5 
we have the following analysis by M. Berthier: 


Protoxide of Iron, . . 

. . . . 50.5 

Silica,. 


Alumina,. 


Water and bitumen, . . 


Carbonate of lime, . . 

. . . . 14.4 

Carbonate of magnesia, . 

. . . 1.2 

i * ' «. 

99.4 

shewing a considerable per centage of Iron. 









Its specific gravity is 3 times that of water; and its 
strict chemical constitution is assumed to be, 1 atom 
of Silica and 2 atoms of Water combined with 2 
atoms of Iron. 

« * « « * # 

8. Titaniated Iron Ore.—I mention this be¬ 
cause a variety has been worked with good success 
at the Harford furnace of Messrs. Patterson, in this 
State. 

Besides this locality, it occurs at several other 
places; such as at Menaccan in Cornwall, in Brazil, 
where it is in great abundance, constituting moun¬ 
tains or very thick and extensive banks, at Arendal 
in Norway, at Egersund in Salzburg, etc. etc. 

All these localities appear to present differing va¬ 
rieties ; the proportions of titanic acid being from 20 
to 57 per cent, of the mass. In the case of a speci¬ 
men from Transylvania, Klaproth found 84 per cent, 
of titanic acid, when it ceased for metallurgic pur¬ 
poses to be an ore of iron. In another case, from 
Maisdon, Berthier found the titanic acid as low as 9 
per cent.; it being replaced by 34 per cent, of silica, 
leaving 31 per cent, of metallic iron. 

I omitted to mention before, that traces of titanium 
are sometimes met with in the lithoid carbonates 
about Merthyr in Wales; where it is seen, either in 
crystals of the oxide, in the cavities of the balls of 
ore, or as pure crystallized titanium, in the hearth 
of the furnace. In the latter condition it occurs also 
in the Scottish furnaces. 


112 




I subjoin the analysis, by M, Berthier, of the ore 

of the Harford furnace. 

Protoxide of iron, ) ^ 

Peroxide do. > 


Titanic acid,.18 

Gangue,.2 


100 

I am told that, though it required careful manage¬ 
ment, the iron produced from it was of good quality 
and profitable. 

As for the other combinations in which iron is 
found—the sulphurets, phosphates, arseniets, tungs¬ 
tates, columbates, and chromates, they are either 
useless because of the costliness of the separation, as 
in the first case, or, from the greater value of some of 
the associated substances, are worked for and applied 
to other purposes in the arts, as in the last named 
instance. So also the franklinite of New Jersey, 
although containing 46 per cent, of metallic iron, 
has only been serviceable for the extraction of zinc; 
to which purpose it was very successfully applied by 
M. Hassler, during the fabrication of the excellent 
brass which he caused to be prepared for our national 
weights and measures. 

The subjoined table, exhibiting the ratio per cent, 
of metallic iron in the different classes I have named, 
as well as a recapitulation of those classes, will con¬ 
clude all that is necessary to be said in this chapter. 






113 


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County, Maryland. 





























CHAPTER III. 


Of the Means , Machinery , and Materials , employed in the Manu¬ 
facture of Iron• 


To give an account of the various processes, 
gone through by the Iron which we see daily in its 
finished state, belongs to a more detailed and syste¬ 
matic work. It will be enough, as this chapter will 
be read chiefly by practical Iron-masters, to mention 
such points of similarity or difference as seemed to 
me important to be recognized between the Iron¬ 
works of America and Great Britain, and also be¬ 
tween those of the different manufacturing Districts 
of Great Britain itself; and to present such statisti¬ 
cal details as are supposed of interest to our own 
manufacturers, and may be taken as authentic. 

The manufacture of Iron is so directly divided into 
two stages (each of considerable extent and involv¬ 
ing its own peculiar processes,) that it dictates a 
similar division in any remarks on the general sub¬ 
ject. What will be treated of here, then, will be the 
production of pig-iron or castings from the ore, 
i. e. the operations of the blast furnace: the second 
and subsequent processes for the conversion of this 


115 


product into malleable or bar-iron, i. e. the operations 
of the forge and mill, will form the matter of a future 
Report—not less interesting for the scientific, than 
for the practical, considerations which it involves. 

Sec. 1 . Of Blast Furnaces generally—their Location, Construc¬ 
tion, etc. 

A marked difference is seen in the position and 
circumstances of the Blast furnaces in Wales and 
Staffordshire, arising from the different physical and 
economic relations of the two districts. Amid the 
mountains of Wales, the furnaces almost without a 
single exception are built against a hill-side, which 
thus in fact forms one side of the stack : in the wide 
and extensive basin round about Dudley, they are 
with the same uniformity built singly, or in a row 
of two or three, on the plain. In the former, the 
materials are generally upon a level entirely above, 
or but little below the top of the stack, and hence 
descend to it; but in the latter, they have always 
to be raised up by machinery after having been 
delivered at the base of the furnace. 

There is also a difference in the material used in 
the construction of the furnaces in these two districts: 
In Wales, stone being generally employed except for 
the lining or in-walls, for which (as well as in some 
instances lately for the hearth) fire-brick has been 
used;—in Staffordshire the greater facility of ex¬ 
traction of an excellent brick-clay, (which is either a 


116 


pure fire-clay, or one rendered more or less refrac¬ 
tory by an association or admixture of that ingre¬ 
dient) has suggested the entire building to be made 
of brick. In a suite of three furnaces, under erec¬ 
tion in October 1839, in the neighbourhood of 
Dudley, and which were the best designed and 
executed of any that I saw in that district, the 
hearth and in-walls, which were of fire-brick bedded 
as usual in fire-clay, were carried on simultaneously 
with the shell of the stack. It is to be expected 
also, that in Wales the use of this material, which 
has been very successfully applied thus far, will 
before long become general. 

The shape of the stack also is different in the two 
districts. In Wales they are massive square trun¬ 
cated pyramids. In Staffordshire, they are conical 
chimneys, rising out of an oblong breast-work of 
masonry. In this latter district, too, they are uni¬ 
formly built together; in Wales, in several cases, 
the bases even of the furnaces do not join. 

The Staffordshire furnaces are also much less 
massive, and do not contain nearly the quantity of 
masonry with the Welch furnaces.—To make up for 
that they are much more bound together with iron. 
In Wales the ironing consists chiefly, if not exclu¬ 
sively, in bars of one and three-quarters to two 

inches square laid horizontally on the parallel sides 

* * 

of the stack,—the ends bearing an elliptical or cir¬ 
cular clamp of cast iron, secured by a nut. 


117 


« « 

But in Staffordshire, although among the older 

furnaces this method may be still seen in practice, 
it is more usual to employ vertical bars, and secure 
them in their places by strong hoops of iron en¬ 
circling the stack. These hoops are placed, in many 
instances, so near together as almost to hide the 
material of which the building is composed. 

One instance only of avoiding in a great degree 
the necessity of all those costly iron fastenings came 
under my notice, in Derbyshire, at the works of the 
Butterley Company. There the joints of the seve¬ 
ral ranges of stone (of which the furnaces were 
built) instead of being horizontal, were at right 
angles to the battered face of the wall; and in the 
centre of the three visible sides, corners had been 
designedly turned : so that the whole work repre¬ 
sented four distinct piers. The expansion of the in¬ 
walls had been enough to separate the piers about 
three and a half inches from one another; but as 
every thing had been calculated for this, there was 
no dislocation or crack elsewhere. In the plates 
accompanying this Report will be found a sketch, 
shewing the manner of building and position of the 
stones. 

The general principles of construction of the inte¬ 
rior of a furnace have been well recognized, since 
the last thirty years, and are the same every where: 
that is to say, the said interior consists of two cones 
attached base to base, and the lower and smaller one 


118 


inverted. But within this general principle, the 
proportions and sizes of these cones, and the colla¬ 
terals by which they are united, are almost infinitely 
varied. Thus the total height of the stack (exclu¬ 
sive of the chimney) may be found to vary, in diffe¬ 
rent localities, from 35 to 63 feet; the width of the 
boshes (corresponding to the junction of the bases of 
the two cones) will be from 7 feet to 20 feet: in 
many furnaces the portion from the boshes to the 
trundle-head is a frustum of a cone, in almost an 
equal number it is a parabolic spindle; the Welch 
hearths are principally square or oblong in the direc¬ 
tion of the lateral tuyeres, while those in Stafford¬ 
shire are more frequently circular; finally there has 
even been an experiment tried, in which the hearth, 
or crucible properly so called, is entirely omitted, 
and the interior, when newly built, presents the 
same outline which is seen in furnaces that have 
been long at work, and have become scoured out 
and degraded. The success of this method is repre¬ 
sented as having been good. 

These differences in structure are principally ar¬ 
bitrary ; but there is a point in which furnaces vary, 
which is not so much a matter of caprice,—namely, 
the angle of the boshes. This is observed to differ 
in almost every locality; and should, in theory, de¬ 
pend upon the fusibilities of the ores, or (in cases 
where the absolute fusibility is the same) upon the 
strength of the coal and the intensity of heat sup- 


119 


plied by it. if we suppose a very fusible mine re¬ 
posing amid intense heat upon boshes which have a 
small angle with the horizon, or are comparatively 
flat,—there is danger that the point of liquefaction 
will arrive too soon, and the melting materials will 
unite with the matter of the boshes and either scour 
them away, or, by forming a new and not so fusible 
compound with some of their ingredients, will be¬ 
come fixed there, and thus choke up and perhaps 
chill the furnace. Therefore for fusible mines, or 
with a combustible of great strength, it is proper to 
have the boshes more steep; while with weak coals 
or a less fusible ore, they should be more flat, in 
order that the cementation or chemical union, which 
must to a certain extent precede liquefaction, may 
have full leisure to take place. 

The same considerations appear to be applicable 
also to another circumstance,— the width of the trun¬ 
dle-head ; which is in like manner found to vary 
much. Thus the ordinary diameter at this part is 
between 6 and 7 feet, for large furnaces; but the 
Derbyshire furnaces before mentioned have (at least 
a new one lately built) a diameter of 9 feet; and 
some furnaces in Wales have even carried this as 
high as 12 feet. 

I must take occasion to mention here the appara¬ 
tus employed for charging , at the Butterley Works; 
which indicated much ingenuity, and also is found to 
answer an excellent purpose. The railway upon 


120 


which the cars came to the trundle-head, was conti¬ 
nued entirely across the mouth of the furnace ; and 
because the intense heat, even there, would be suffi¬ 
cient to burn out in a short time any solid bars, the 
rails are for that portion (say 12 feet) made hollow , 
and a constant stream of water, brought from a 
neighbouring spring in the adjacent highlands, is 
made to flow through them. This water either runs 
to waste down the sides of the furnace, or is con^ 
ducted to the boilers of the Engine. The charge is 
thrown in directly from the rail-road car, instead of 
being loaded first on a barrow; which is effected 
by a peculiar construction. The body of the car it¬ 
self is a cylinder, about three and a half feet in di¬ 
ameter, of boiler-plate; the bottom, which is coni¬ 
cal, (like the bottom of a Bristol porter-bottle) is 
moveable in a vertical sense by means of a rack in 
an upright shaft attached to the apex of the cone, 
and worked by a pinion, whose axle and crank- 
handle extend to the front of the car. I have en¬ 
deavoured to make this more plain by a sketch, that 
will be found among the plates; in which the frame¬ 
work for the play of the rack and pinion, the wide 
cylinder, and the shape of the bottom, are all shown. 
It is presumed that from the materials sliding off* in 
concentric circles, there is a much better distribution 
of them, and a remedy to the evil frequently seen 
when the charging is performed only by one door. 
It is also asserted that charged in this uniform man- 


121 


ner, the furnace admits a greater number of charges 
in a turn of twelve hours. 

In this particular, the number of charges, there is 
great variety in different furnaces, and (although not 
so much as in America) at different times, with the 
same furnace. About thirty charges, per turn , is 
the most usual in Staffordshire, and thirty-six in 
Wales;—but they sometimes do not exceed twenty, 
and I have seen them go up to forty-eight,—the 
coke-barrow carrying 500 pounds. But this will be 
spoken of, when I come to treat of the materials 
employed and their method of employment. 

From the nature of the ground about the Stafford¬ 
shire furnaces, which is an extended plain, it follows 
that it is necessary to lift all the materials of the 
charges to the trundle-head of the furnace; and for 
this purpose, various machinery is employed. Gene¬ 
rally, it is a small steam-engine specially applied to 
that use;—sometimes an ingenious application of 
water to a system of alternating buckets is made;— 
and more rarely still, the steam-engine, which creates 
the blast, serves also to raise the materials. In the 
best arrangement of the second kind of motive power, 
which I observed in Staffordshire, the water was first 
pumped up by the blast-engine to the top of the fur¬ 
nace, whence it flowed into a bucket, whose whole 
bottom was in fact a valve opening upwards. The 
size of the counterpoising basket containing the 
16 


122 


charge, was so proportioned, that, as the water- 
bucket became full, it descended by its greater 
weight until it reached the base of the furnace, 
where was a reservoir in which a projecting cleet, 
striking against the valve of the bucket, forced it up, 
and thus discharged its contents. Thus emptied, 
the water-bucket became lighter than the ore-basket, 
which had been by this time discharged; and of 
course, whenever the latter was, by hand, set free 
from the parapet of the furnace, the former as¬ 
cended. At the place I speak of, the system com¬ 
prehended two water-buckets and four baskets; 
these performed their work in a very regular man¬ 
ner, and were quite sufficient to supply the furnace. 
A part of the water, pumped up by the engine, 
served to supply the water-tuyeres. When a 
steam-engine is employed, if the incline is at all 
steep, (and it varies according to circumstances 
from 15° to 40°) the rails are generally racked , to 
increase the adhesion and spare the machinery. At 
an establishment, immediately on the Birmingham 
canal, where two furnaces were in activity, making 
60 tons per week each, the Incline-engine was of six 
horses power. Of course, whatever be the inclina¬ 
tion of ascent, the platform carrying the baskets of 
coke and mine, etc. is always horizontal; the weigh¬ 
ing and filling of the baskets is all done below, and 
the Filler goes up on the platform with them, at the 
proper intervals of charging; which interval, at the 


123 




place and lime I speak of; was every half-hour. In 
Wales; generally this trouble is entirely saved. 

Very rarely in any Iron-manufacturing district 1 
in England, is there sufficiently uniform supply of 
water; for motivating the blast. Therefore almost 
uniformly; that part of the work is performed by a 
large steam-engine; one end of whose working 
beam is attached to the piston-rod of a double-acting 
blast cylinder. The proportions of this apparatus 
vary according to the localities. Generally it may 
be said, that 2 * * 5 a low-pressure condensing engine of 
22 horses; is capable of forcing as much air as is 
consumed by a furnace; making 50 or 60 tons per 
week: this is about 3200 cubic feet per minute. 

It appears to be found of profit; however; to have 
larger engines; and with them blow at the same time 
three or more furnaces and fineries. These engines 
are from 80 to 100 horses power; and the fineries 
are estimated to consume one-fifth of the air fur¬ 
nished. For the large furnace establishments; the 
average size of the blast-cylinder is about 8 feet in 
diameter; and 8 feet stroke;—the number of strokes 
about 15 per minute. If more work is to be tempo¬ 
rarily performed by the blast-engine; the speed of 

1 I recollect but one case of water-power applied in Wales—at the Ply¬ 

mouth Works of Messrs. Hill & Co.; where four furnaces and four fineries are 

blown by four cylinders, each 5 feet in diameter and 6 feet stroke. The 

piston-rod makes about 18 strokes per minute. 

5 All the Engines that I remember are condensing ; they are sometimes 
high-pressure condensing engines, however. 


124 


the piston is increased, and generally about in direct 
proportion to the number of furnaces to be alimented; 
thus at one establishment, where are three furnaces 
blown into from a cylinder 9 feet diameter and 8 feet 
stroke, and making 14 strokes per minute, four fur¬ 
naces are sometimes fed by increasing the number of 
strokes to 18, per minute. 

At another establishment, where there are seven 
high furnaces, very frequently all in blast at once, 
and seven fineries, there are no less than three en¬ 
gines for the blast, one of 90, one of 80, and another 
of 40 horses-power. The cylinder of the larger en¬ 
gine is 9i feet in diameter and 8 feet stroke; and 
the piston makes about 13 strokes per minute. Each 
furnace (they are fifty feet high) is estimated to con¬ 
sume 3500 feet of air 3 per minute;—the fineries being 
supposed to consume one-fifth of the whole quantity 
of air furnished. 

I am informed that in the furnaces about Glasgow, 
the diameter of the blast-cylinders is somewhat be¬ 
low the average I have given for the Welch and 

3 This is in round numbers ; the exact calculation would give a little 
more. On the general assumption that the loss of air is about 5 per cent, of 
the contents of the cylinder, the formula of calculation is 

Q=1.9 alv. 

where Q = the quantity furnished per minute in cubic feet; a ~ the area of 
the piston ; l = length of stroke (both in feet and fractions ;) and v = num¬ 
ber of strokes per minute. These strokes are full strokes, or revolutions. 

Dr. Ure gives the proportionate consumption of the fineries at one-eighth of 
the whole quantity furnished. I think, with the waste and other circumstan¬ 
ces that would be taken in account under a more delicate formula than I have 
given, it will be found nearer to what is stated in the text. 


125 


Staffordshire furnaces; the stroke however is not 
less, and the speed of the piston greater. Hence 
they work also at a greater pressure. 

By comparing the working of several different 
establishments in Wales, it results as the average of 
that district (and not far from the truth in other dis¬ 
tricts I believe) that one horse-power (33,000 lbs. 
raised 1 foot high per minute) furnishes about 130 
cubic feet of air per minute, and corresponds to the 
production of two tons per week. 

The use of Regulators of this large quantity of air, 
in order to its issuing in a uniform stream through 
the tuyeres, is universal. The shape and kind how¬ 
ever are very different at different localities, M. 
Dufrenoy has already divided them into three kinds: 

1. Air-chambers of constant capacity; 

2. Air-chambers whose capacity varies with the 
ascent or descent of a piston ; 

3. Water-regulators; in which the capacity varies 
to a similar extent as in the last class, but in a con¬ 
verse manner. 

The first class comprehends those most generally 
used throughout Wales : as to their dimensions and 
shape, however, it seems quite arbitrary. At one 
establishment it was a sphere of 19 feet in diame¬ 
ter; 4 at another place it was cylinder, with hemis¬ 
pherical terminations, whose length was 30 feet and 

4 At Decazeville in France, there is a similar one, of the enormous diame¬ 
ter of 24 feet. 


126 


diameter 16 feet. I have been able to find no rule 
among the Iron-masters for its proportions, except to 
make it as large as possible. In theory, the blast, 
under a pressure of two pounds, should be equalized 
by the capacity of the regulator being nearly nine 
times that of the blowing-cylinder,—the size of the 
airways being the same in both. In general, regula¬ 
tors are from twelve to fifteen times as capacious as 
the blowing-cylinder. 

The second kind requires an air-chamber, whose 
capacity need not exceed that of the blast-cylinder. 
Not unfrequently they have two such chambers,— 
each cylindrical, and furnished with its own piston. 

The last kind is generally seen in Staffordshire. 
The troughs or boxes are from 30 to 40 feet long 5 — 
and from 10 to 15 feet broad, and about as much 
high. The ill effects produced by an access of mois¬ 
ture to the furnace are only counteracted by peculi¬ 
arities of the materials and great care in the work¬ 
ing, which they apply in the district mentioned; and 
this sort of regulators cannot be recommended to 
general use. 

From the Regulator, the blast passes into the fur¬ 
nace generally through two tuyeres, on opposite sides; 
and not unfrequently in Staffordshire, through three. 
In this case, the hearth should be more oblong than 
usual. This is not contradicted in the fact of there 
being one establishment near Merthyr Tydvil, where 
a circular hearth is blown into by three tuyeres. In 


127 


such a circular, or in a square hearth, the position of 
the tuyeres is not of so much consequence; but in 
the hearths which are oblong in the direction of the 
tymp, the axes of the opposite tuyeres are never in 
the same vertical plane; or, what is the same thing, 
the streams of air on the two sides are not in the 
same line; so that in effect, the blast is somewhat 
diagonal or towards the corner. The distance of the 
planes apart, or the amount by which the tuyeres are 
out of line, varies from four to nine inches. 

Also, according to the quality of the iron wished to 
be produced, (this is especially the case in Stafford¬ 
shire) use is made of one or the other of the two 
tuyere-apertures, which are made in the same tuyere- 
arch ; one about two feet above the other, in a fur¬ 
nace fifty feet high. The chemical action of this 
arrangement will be dwelt upon in another chapter. 

The size of the nozzles to the tuyeres, varies in 
different places from two to four and a half inches. 
This variety arises from the difference of opinion, 
which has of late years especially existed among the 
furnace-managers, as to the practical effect of the blast 
under different degrees of pressure. These opinions 
resolve themselves into two classes; one of which 
maintains that the increased pressure , or weight of 
the air driven in the furnace, produces a special ef¬ 
fect,—the other, that the quantity , or volume of air 
at the atmospheric density, is the only thing to be 
considered in the combustion, and consequent work- 


128 


ing of the furnace. As is very natural; each side; or 
some individuals of either side, have appeared to 
think; that the maintenance of their own proper opi¬ 
nion involved a great and necessary difference from 
the opinion of all others. In the next chapter; which 
will be devoted to a consideration of the Chemical 
phenomena of Furnaces; the definitions of this sub¬ 
ject will be more fully given. 

Without further reference to theoretical opinions, 
it may be stated; that in fact, the pressure in the 
Staffordshire blast is not more than 1| pounds per 
square inch at a maximum:—in Wales, the average 
pressure is found to rise to 2\ pounds per square 
inch, though there are cases of 3 pounds: finally, in 
Scotland, the pressure of the blast at an average is 
not much below 31 pounds, and in some cases has 
amounted to 4| pounds, per square inch. But I am 
informed that in some of the establishments in the 
vicinity of Glasgow, they are now perceiving an 
advantage in diminishing this enormous density. 

The employment of water-tuyeres is very common, 
if not universal, both with Hot and Cold blast fur¬ 
naces. These utensils, made originally of cast iron 
of considerable thickness, have been subsequently 
fabricated of wrought iron or boiler-plate, of copper, 
and of the mixture (not properly an alloy) which 
takes place between iron and copper, when exposed 
together to a high temperature. This mixture was 
at first forged; but it being found to be red-short , or 


apt to break before great heat, it was subsequently 
cast. The impression seems warranted now, after 
all these trials, that cast-iron of small thickness will 
be found the most serviceable. 

In the use of various apparatus for increasing the 
temperature of the blast, the furnaces of Great 
Britain are nearly, or quite, equally divided. There 
is not the same equality, in the preference shewn for 
different sorts of apparatus. The methods of heat¬ 
ing by the trundle-head, which has been the most 
extensive in America, is not found in England to 
give a proportionate advantage, in the economy of 
fuel only; a greater advantage is therefore generally 
by preference availed of, by erecting special furnaces 
near to each tuyere-arch. This requires more fuel, 
but greatly enhances the productive effect of the 
blast. The quality of that productive effect is a 
consideration that I will treat of hereafter. 

In regarding this subject, one thing has struck 
me, which however I do not give as the result of 
specific observations, but only as entitled to the 
force of an impression, viz: that in establishments 
consisting of several furnaces, where there is the 
apparatus for hot-blast, the proportion of furnaces 
in activity , at the same time, is greater than in 
establishments using exclusively cold-blast. 

The nature of the blast also affects, in a greater 
or less degree, the aspect of the tuyeres and of the 
17 


130 


trundle-head. In the use of hot-blast, other cir¬ 
cumstances remaining the same, the tuyere is more 
clear and bright. Likewise the flame from the 
trundle-head, during hot-blast, I have seen attain 
an elevation not short of 25 feet,—a height I do not 
recollect ever to have observed during cold-blast. 
Generally in furnaces of the latter kind, a tuyere 
somewhat obscure is preferred in making Foundry 
iron; while a very bright tuyere is supposed to 
indicate the working of forge-pig. But this depends 
in all probability more upon the materials employed 
than upon any thing else: for different furnace- 
managers will sometimes affirm different rules. 

The buildings and sheds about the furnaces, 
though presenting different architectural effects, are 
in general for very uniform purposes. Top-houses 
or Bridge-houses are, in Staffordshire, rare; they 
can hardly be said to be common in Wales, to the 
extent to which we find them in America. The 
Cast-houses, however, much surpass ours in all re¬ 
gards. Against a- stack of furnaces, they are most 
frequently built with their gable ends in front, and 
with the ridge pole in the direction of the tymp. 
Both in front and in the interior, they are often 
supported on cast-iron columns; and the girders, 
rafters, and roof, of metal. This gives them an 
appearance of great lightness and beauty; as will 
particularly strike an observer at Cyfarthfa. The 


131 


height from the floor to the ridge-pole is rarely less 
than thirty-five feet, except in small establishments; 
and no part of the roof seems to approach nearer 
than eighteen feet to the ground. The roof of the 
cast-house does not always abut against the stack; 
and in such a case, there is a pent-shed attached to 
the stack, at a greater height, which throws off the 
water that, during rains, would otherwise fall about 
the Tymp-arch. 

Of course every variety, that caprice or conve¬ 
nience could dictate, may be expected and is met 
with, in the interior passages and arrangements 
about the stacks and cast-houses. The access to 
the tuyeres, etc. in some, is extremely confined and 
difficult;—the tymp-arch however is generally spa¬ 
cious, so as to afford as much room for the work¬ 
men, and as great an access of cool air, as possible. 

This ventilation is very necessary, on account of 
the temperature of this part of an English furnace; 
which is much above what is experienced in our 
American furnaces. The difference, in this regard, 
arises from the nature of the combustible employed, 
from the much larger mass on fire at once, and from 
the immense quantity of cinder or slag, which both 
the yield of the furnace and the peculiarities of 
the ore cause to be produced. An ordinary-sized 
stack furnishes about thirty tons of cinder per day. 

In some places the cinder, as formed, is directed 
to run into iron cars, which are brought close to the 


132 


furnace, upon a small rail-road for that purpose- 
The cinder thus becomes moulded in blocks of great 
size, which are removed from the cars by means of 
a crane, whose block is fastened to a metal ring and 
staple, inserted in the mass while quite fluid, and 
afterwards broken out; and are then sometimes used 
to build walls, instead of stone. Their main recom¬ 
mendation, in this respect, is that they are obtained 
without quarrying. Usually the masses which have 
been thus removed, are broken up and applied to 
the repair of roads; in which the material answers 
an excellent purpose. 

The pig-beds too, as part of the interior of a Cast- 
house, are, in contrast with those in the country, 
enormous: and in some works (as at Cyfarthfa) 
considerable ingenuity has been exercised, in their 
arrangement for non-interference. At the place just 
mentioned, it must be said that after all, one bed is 
in the open air. This will probably be shortly 
remedied. 

* 

As to the repairs, or replacement, of the tuyeres 
and tymp, which have to be frequently executed 
during a campaign of five to seven years, the ave¬ 
rage duration of one blast throughout England,— 
they do not differ from the methods (much less 
frequently put in practice) in America, except in 
degree. If the access to the arch is at all con¬ 
venient, a new tuyere is set completely in two 


133 


hours. The ‘putting in a breast 5 of fire-clay, as 
an auxiliary to the tymp, wings, and dam-stone,, 
is an operation somewhat longer, because they are 
interfered with by the cinder. Finally, the replace¬ 
ment of the tymp, which is always preceded by 
placing the furnace in train, and diminishing the 
charge of mine and flux, can rarely be effected in 
less than two turns, or twenty-four hotirs. 

It becomes often desirable to repair a portion of the 
inwalls near the charging-plate,—an operation much 
dreaded, because other artisans are required than the 
furnace-men themselves, w r ho alw r ays are competent 
and called on to execute the repairs before men¬ 
tioned. For this purpose, the furnace is made to 
carry less burden, for forty-eight hours before the in¬ 
tended commencement of the operation. The periods 
of the charges are much more remote than ordinary ; 
and thus the materials consumed, without replace¬ 
ment, sink to the proper level, where the repairs are 
to commence. I have never heard of a depth greater 
than nine feet: but presume this is by no means 
the utmost limit. Balls of fire-clay and common 
plastic clay mixed, are then thrown in upon the top 
of the materials to the depth of one foot and a half 
to two feet,—the blast is shut off, and the masons 
descend into the furnace, and execute the repairs 
with an expedition, that the great discomfort of their 
position much enhances. They will finish generally 
within the period of two turns, i. e. twenty-four 
hours. 


134 


Much caution has to be then used in supplying 
the materials; as much of the clay as can be re¬ 
moved is lifted out, and small charges, in which the 
combustible predominates, are at intervals supplied : 
the blast also must be increased gradually. The 
furnace may thus be brought into ordinary working 
train, in about thirty hours. 

The stoppage of the blast, for greater or less 
intervals, is very common in England. All the 
repairs I have mentioned, require its suppression; 
and other considerations have prompted its being 
taken off’ at some establishments for twelve hours 
on Sunday. Unfortunately the use made of this 
benevolent leisure by the men themselves, and the 
irregularity it produces in the train of the furnace, 
contribute to defeat the intention of this laudable 
arrangement, and to prevent its general adoption. 

A furnace may sometimes be tightened up to pre¬ 
vent access of air, and left without blast for a much 
longer period than has been just now referred to; 
and I have heard of an instance of a furnace thus 
stopped for fourteen days,—but returning, in fifty 
hours after the re-application of the blast, to her 
ordinary train. This is an extreme case, and per¬ 
haps the ordinary train was never very good: but 
generally it may be said, that the effect of or sup¬ 
pression of blast for three or four hours is, in a large 
furnace and well managed, not observable. 


135 


Sec. 2. Cost of Construction and Permanence of Blast Furnaces, 

and their accessories. 

Having presented, in the preceding section, such 
details as seemed to me of chief interest, regarding 
the methods of construction and machinery em¬ 
ployed in Blast-furnaces, I offer farther some state¬ 
ments as to the cost of said construction and ma¬ 
chinery, the prices of labor applied to carrying on 
an establishment, the resulting expense for the 
metal produced, etc. etc. 

The Staffordshire furnaces are, so far as I could 
get information, cheaper in their construction than 
in other parts of England. M. Dufrenoy gives 
164,725, as the number of bricks (fire-brick and 
others) required for one stack and lining; but this 
is only for a small furnace, with boshes of twelve 
feet. For a large stack of fifty feet and upwards, 
and fourteen feet boshes, it takes 220,000 bricks:— 
or their place must be supplied with metal. Of this 
220,000—about 5000 will be fire-brick; moulded 
of different shapes and sizes to fit different portions 
of the hearth and lining. Such fire-bricks cost 
from 2 s. 6d. (60 cts.) to 3s. 6cZ. (84 cts.) a-piece. 

The cost of all the brickwork and materials, except 
the iron hoops and binders, M. Dufrenoy also states 
as being, for two stacks connected at the base, 
£1800, or about $9000. The same remark as to 
the size, just now made, must also apply here. 


136 


Two years later than M. Dufrenoy, Dr. Ure 
has, in 1839, given the same statement—I presume 
upon the authority of the French observer, as to 
the Staffordshire furnaces: and he has also given 
a general estimate of the cost of erection of three 
Blast-furnaces and accessories; which I subjoin here. 
Such a Table is difficult to be made out very accu¬ 
rately—both because a part of the expenses vary 
with the localities or are arbitrary, and because those 
who have made experience of the details are natu¬ 
rally indifferent, if not averse, to their being com¬ 
municated. So far as my inquiries were satisfac¬ 
torily answered, I have reason to affirm the general 
correctness of this statement:—although in some 
particulars it may be erroneous. 

Estimate of the average cost of erecting three Blast-furnaces . 1 


Building Expenses. 

Foundations:.• . . . $2,400 

Masonry of hewn stones:.3,000 

Common Bricklayers’ work:.6,000 

Lining and Hearth, etc. (of fire-brick): . . 5,700 

Fireclay; for filling the joints: .... 400 

% 

Lime and Sand:.4,000 

Cast-Iron 


Cast-iron pieces; such as dam-plates, tymp- 

plates, sows, etc. about 72 Tons: . . 5,700 

Wrought-Iron. 

Binding-hoops, Keys, etc.; 15 Tons: . . . 1,500 

Amount carried over,.$ 28,700 

i 

i For the convenience of even numbers, I have rated, in the reduction of 
this estimate, the pound sterling at five dollars of our currency. The three 
per cent, excess, above its actual value, will bring it near the truth. 








137 


Amount brought forward, .... $28,700 


Cost of Labor. 

Masons and Laborers:.5,400 

Miscellaneous. 

Scaffolding:.240 

Tools:.800 

Cast-House or Shed:.2,400 

Cost of ground:.12,000 

Accessories. 


Blowing Machinery and 80 Horse Engine: 32,000 
Inclined Railway for mounting charges: . . 600 


Gallery for charging:.800 

Steam-Engine House :.2,000 

Chimneys, Boilers, etc.:.2,400 

Roasting-kilns:.2,400 

Coke-kilns:.4,000 

Dwellings for Workmen:.4,000 


Total Cost:.$97,740 


This total gives for one furnace $32,580; but 
it must be borne in mind that the cost is lessened, 
both in labor and materials, by building several at 
the same time. Also it must be recollected that 
these expenses, though stated here in American 
money, would not be found, in America, to, pro¬ 
duce the same practical result,—but would differ 
more or less according to localities. 

Having before spoken of the repairs, requisite 
about a furnace, done by the furnace-hands, I give 
here some statements shewing the number of men 
considered necessary at the principal establishments 

18 
















138 


in Wales and Staffordshire; together with their 
respective compensations. 

The first is on the authority of M. Dufrenoy— 
as being actual, at a well conducted establishment 
near Pontypool, in the year 1823. This is given 
for comparison. 


Table of Wages in Wales in the year 1823. 


EMPLOYMENT. 

Wages per ton of 
Forge-pig. 

REMARKS. 


s. d. 

D. cts. 


Keeper: . . . . 

10 

20 

For foundry-iron the keep- 




ers get 28 cts. per ton. 

Killer:. 

8 

16 

For foundry-iron the fillers 




receive 24 cts. per ton. 

Cinder-tiller: . . 

8 

16 

For foundry-iron the cin- 

Limestone-breaker:. 

5 

10 

der-filler receives 20 cts. 

Coker:. 

1 3 

30 

per ton. 

Coke-hauler: . . . 

3£ 

7 


Coke-filler: . . . 


9 


Mine-burner: . . 

6\ 

11 


Engineer: .... 

6 

12 


Pig-weigher: . . . 

2 

4 


Plate-layer: . . . 

2 

4 


Bridge-stocker: . . 

6 

12 


Box-filler: . . • . 

4 

8 


Repairs and tools, etc. 

n 

5 



6 10 

1 64 

Foundry-iron: . $ 1 84 


Besides these, there are some other workmen paid 
by the month: such as 

Cinder-hauler:.£3 10 0 per month. 

Limestone-hauler: .... 1 10 0 do. 

Watchmen:.3 10 0 do. 

Stickmen, and others whose 

employment is not named: 6 16 3 do. 


£15 6 3 




















139 


This amount is equivalent, on an average monthly 
yield of 240 tons, to Is. d., or 31 cents per ton. 

The following statement of wages, in 1839, was 
furnished me from an establishment in Staffordshire. 


Table of Wages in Staffordshire in the year 1839. 


EMPLOYMENT. 

Per ton 
of Metal 
made. 

WAGES. 

Per 

Week. 

Other¬ 

wise. 

REMARKS. 


cts. 

d. cts. 

cts. 


Keeper: . . . . 

22 

• • 

• • 

House-rent and firing free. 

Filler: . . . . 

24 

, . 

• • 

Do. do. pavs his own helper. 

Limestone-breaker: 


3 84 

• • 


Mine-burner: . . 



6 

On the ton of raw-ore delivered 

Bridge-stocker: 


3 84 


him. 

Coker: .... 


, , 

2 

On the sack (£ ton) of coke 

Engineer: . . . 


6 00 

• • 

furnished by him. 

Cinder-filler: . . 


7 20 

• • 

Pays his own helpers. 

Pig-weigher: . . 

7 

• • 

• • 


Blacksmith: . . 

• • 

10 56 

• • 

Pays his own striker. 


The other laborers employed will average about 
2s. per day. The metal referred to in this table is 
all foundry; and a comparison of the two state¬ 
ments will shew the position of Staffordshire, as 
regards the price of labor. Although this district, 
has especially felt, I believe, the appreciation of 
wages, which has been going on for five years past, 
and may be considered as quite equivalent to one 
per cent, per annum for the last sixteen years,-—the 
wages of keepers and fillers are yet lower than they 
were in Wales in 1823. 

For the Welsh furnaces generally, the following 
Table may be exhibited. The wages of the higher 
officers are rated upon three or more furnaces, to 
be managed or supplied. 





















Table of Wages in Wales in the year 1839. 


140 


m 

W 

Pi 

< 

S 

W 

Pi 


CO 

-X 

Si 

O 

£ 


<L> 

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"53 

p 

53 


cu 


3 ."53 -o 

g-flli 


s 

3 

a 

£3 

TO 

u 

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(M 


to a) 

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33 to 

^ E 

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S o 

u g 

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a> 


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ra <B rf 

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>*-* H-> 

0)0)0) 

ass 

t«_ c*_ 

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a p g 

oop 


S3 <3 o o 

O Ph Oh Ph Ph 


CO 

7-° 

s^ 

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0) -±4 
a o> 
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£ 

Si 

— a> 

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S- to' 
« © 
Ph >-h 


7 ►>§ 

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03 «-> "S 
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p M (M o 

• 7T v —x 
co C 

p ^ a; S 

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to 


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a 


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£ 
a> 


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TO . 


q) O 

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c 

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Si 

<u 

Ph 


"T 3 

<1) 

S3 


O 

Si 

1 TO 
1 -Q 


Si Si 

a> o 

Ph Ph 


Otherwise. 

Dolls. Cts. 

• • • 

# 

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CO <M <N (M 

20 

• • • 

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■np X* CO 

<M 

CD t>- 

rH 

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(j^PHUO^^p^cqaipj^S 









































141 


I presume the following statement will be found 
to represent the average of the number of hands, 
employed about a single Blast-furnace, throughout 
Wales: viz. 


Table shewing the Number of Persons, and their daily Wages, 
requisite for carrying on a single Furnace in Wales, in 1839. 



PERSONS 

EMPLOYED. 

WAGES PER DAY. 

WHERE EMPLOYED. 






Men. 

Boys or Girls. 

£. s. 

d. 

Dols.Cts. 


Mine-kilns:.| 

1 

2 

2 

2 

4 

56 

48 

Coking-kilns:.| 

2 

• • • 

8 

4 

8 

8 

1 12 

1 92 

Hauling and filling (horse added): | 

1 

• • • 

1 

5 

3 

10 

1 26 

20 

Breaking limestone: . . . . 

• • • 

2 

1 

8 

40 

Keepers:. 

2 

• • • 

12 


2 88 

Fillers:.£ 

2 

• • • 

2 

12 

1 


2 88 

24 

Cinder-fillers:. 

2 

• • • 

8 


1 92 

Hauling and tipping cinder: . 

1 

• • • 

2 

9 

66 

Engineer: ....... $ 

1 

• • • 

1 

3 

1 

6 

84 

24 

_ V 

Pig-weigher:. 

1 

• • • 

2 

9 

66 

Stickman: . 

1 

• • • 

2 

5 

5S 

Laborers: . 

4 

• • • 

9 

4 

2 24 


18 

16 

3 19 

6 

19 08 


This is very nearly 8 shillings or $1.92 per ton, 
supposing the weekly yield to be 70 tons. It is 
exclusive of all charge for superintendence, wear 
and tear, and extra-labor in repairs, etc. 

Compared with the force usually employed about 
the charcoal-furnaces in this country, the number of 
persons given above is large: nevertheless from the 
lowness of their wages combined with the greater 
product of the furnace, this item in the manufacture 
is much cheaper in England than I have ever known 
it in America. 






























142 


Sec. 3. Of the Materials used in Blast-furnaces, their methods of 
Extraction and Preparation, and their Cost. 

The character, quantities, and prices of the diffe¬ 
rent materials form an object of importance to be 
next observed. Upon this subject, several statements 
of other observers have been already made; in par¬ 
ticular, those of MM. Dufrenoy, Beaumont, Coste, 
and Perdonnet, deserve to be mentioned. But it 
may be remarked, that the same difficulty, which 
was before mentioned as in the way of obtaining an 
accurate account of the expense of building even one 
establishment, holds here; and is even enhanced in 
the fact, that the books are hardly in any one place 
so rigidly kept as to present a precise detail of all 
the operations. For the proportions of some of the 
different substances, it is true, the average, through 
a long period, of the not very delicate methods of 
measurement, may be sufficient to give a tolerably 
correct view; but the number and wages and modes 
of payment of the working hands are so different in 
every establishment, as to render items under that 
head not much more than approximations; and any 
average of those items, it would be hardly fair to 
take. I shall nevertheless take occasion to give one 
or two statements in this regard also: which may be 
considered to be as authentic as the nature of the 
case allows. But it will be first desirable to present 
some considerations, as to the character and modes 


143 


of preparation of the different substances employed 
in the primitive manufacture of iron. 

The richness of the ore of Wales has been already 
said to be about 33 per cent, of metallic iron,—that 
of Staffordshire only 30 per cent.; and the mean of 
Dr. Colquhoun’s analyses give 32J for the Scotch 
ores. All these ores are the same lithoid carbonate 
of iron; and its average constitution in the different 
districts being nearly the same, the proportions of 
Mine to metal produced may be considered as quite 
uniform,—viz : about three tons of raw mine, to pro¬ 
duce one ton of iron of average quality. But the 
price varies, in Wales, from 7 shillings to 14 shillings 
per ton; in Staffordshire from 4 shillings to 12 shil¬ 
lings per ton, added to which must be the very 
general use of the Lancashire and Cumberland 
haematites, which cost (carriage included) from 20 
shillings to 25 shillings per ton; and in Scotland it 
is between 4| shillings and 6 shillings per ton. 

The extraction of ore in Wales may be said to 
be universally by drifts. There are however some 
shafts; though of no great depth. In Scotland, at 
least in the Glasgow measures, the depth of the 
shafts (by which it is entirely worked) varies, ac¬ 
cording to the locality, from 200 to 500 feet. 

In Staffordshire, the workable beds occur both 
above and below the main or ten-yard coal, as it is 
called, which is situate about 350 feet below the 
surface. In some places, nodules are extracted at a 


144 


depth of about 130 feet; but generally the first 
workable bed is found from 190 to 200 feet beneath 
the surface. A second is worked at a depth of 250 
feet; and a third lies immediately beneath the main- 
coal. These depths are in the neighbourhood of 
Dudley. They will of course vary in other localities 
in the same fields on account of the dip and distur¬ 
bances of the strata. Thus ; near Bilston, the main 
or ten-yard coal is reached at a depth of 140 feet, 
instead of 350, as near Dudley. 

The association of the ores with other substances 
more or less difficult to remove, will make of course 
a variation, according to circumstances, in the quan¬ 
tity which a workman can extract in a day. But 
a fair average, I think, may be taken throughout 
England and Wales, by estimating each miner at 
200 tons per annum. The usual allowance in Wales 
is a half-ton per day on all the miners and mine- 
labourers, for the year round. 

The roasting is an operation essentially necessary 
to be performed with all these ores; except that the 
small quantity of Lancashire ore is added in its 
crude state. The expense of this process varies 
according to whether the open air is the place of 
roasting in heaps, or whether small furnaces are 
erected to receive it. The former is the most usual 
in Staffordshire, the latter in Wales. The expense 
of roasting in clamps is hardly more than the coal 
which is consumed. This coal is laid down in large 


145 


pieces at the bottom, in a sort of flue arrangement, 
and allowed to project a considerable distance be¬ 
yond what is to be the surface of the clamp;—the 
mine is then stratified with slack and small coal; and 
the coal at the bottom set fire to, in the direction of 
the prevailing wind. The clamps are generally 
about ten feet wide, twenty or thirty in length, and 
ten feet high; but they often surpass these dimen¬ 
sions, and within certain limits, there is reason to 
believe that an economy is found in the large dimen¬ 
sions of the piles. It takes usually in Staffordshire 
one-fifth , by weight, of slack coal to roast a given 
quantity of ore: if large coal is used, the proportion 
is one-eighth, and according to the strength of the 
coal, and the proportion of coaly matter in the mine 
itself, it may be still less; thus at the Lonaconing 
works in Maryland, where the same methods are 
pursued, the common proportion for small clamps is 
one-tenth, and for large ones, descends even to 
one-twentieth. The quantity used in the Welch 
roasting kilns does not exceed one-twentieth, and 
sometimes is one-thirtieth only; it is therefore, 
without estimating the interest in the erection of 
the kilns, cheaper. It is also cheaper, in that the 
ore is never fused in a kiln, as it is not unfrequently 
in a clamp. After the vitrification has taken place, 
the ore is as difficult to treat as if its water had been 
left in it. 

The loss of weight, manifested in the mine by 
19 


146 


this process^ is from 25 to 40 per cent. 1 have 
even been told of 45 per cent, loss; in the case of 
some particular beds; in whose constitution was 
present; a larger proportion than ordinary of car¬ 
bonic acid and water. 

The flux universally used is limestone ;—except 
in one or two establishments in Northumberland 
and Durham; where they employ chalk , as I am 
informed; in proportion nearly or quite similar to 
those of limestone. This proportion is; in almost 
every case; by weight one-third;—by volume one- 
half of the raw mine. Occasionally; to alter the 
quality of iron or the train of the furnace, a greater 
proportion is employed. 

In Staffordshire, they work the immense calca¬ 
reous deposites round about Dudley Castle. These 
appear to wrap round Dudley Castle Hill, and 
another hill, about two miles distant, called the 
Wren’s Nest. They occur in two beds,—one ten 
yards, the other about fourteen yards thick; which 
beds are separated by measures, from thirty to forty 
yards in thickness, of calcareous matter and shale, 
containing many fossil shells, and especially, quan¬ 
tities of trilobites , some of them of great size. From 
the highly inclined position of the limestone strata, 
it has been worked at several different levels; in 
particular, a branch of the Birmingham Canal now 
passes almost under Dudley Castle, through an 



147 


old working. More recently, they have seen the 
advantage of more systematic mining; and now, 
most of the limestone is brought to light by means 
of shafts. Two such shafts, 330 to 350 feet deep, 
are worked by the same engine, in what was for¬ 
merly the pleasure-ground of Dudley Castle. Por¬ 
tions of the limestone are magnesian, as appears 
from the structure, and as some of the iron-masters 
have practically discovered; so far however as I 
could judge from my own examinations, this cha¬ 
racteristic belonged only to the imperfect beds be¬ 
tween the main measures. The average cost of 
the limestone is about 9 shillings per ton. From 
the old workings, it may be still had for 6 shillings. 

The limestone used in South Wales is taken from 
the calcareous deposites, underlaying the coal-mea¬ 
sures. This forms part of what the English Geolo¬ 
gists have called the upper transition limestone, as 
the beds about Dudley do of the lower transition . 
It occurs in beds from two to eight feet thick; but 
the entire measures, or assemblage of these beds, 
are of great depth. Its cost of extraction is 1| 
shillings to 4 shillings per ton. There also occurs 
here beds of magnesian limestone. 

In Derbyshire, there appears to be a smaller quan¬ 
tity of lime used than in the other districts;—the 
proportion, to that of the ore, being instead of “ 0 . 
That used at the Butterly Works has a fetid odour. 
The cost is small for extraction, but I regret to have 


148 

mislaid an exact memorandum, made at the time of 
my visit. 

As to the patents, which have been taken out 
since the last twelve years, for mixing other alkaline 
materials as fluxes (such as salt , potash , etc.) they 
do not appear to have met with practical success. 
It is very possible, that in strict theory applied to 
special cases, such additions might be expected to 
be useful;—in the operation of refining with char¬ 
coal, there is hardly any doubt but that the potash 
exercises an influence in bettering the quality of the 
metal: but for the blast-furnaces, the disappearance 
of the small quantities of such chemical fluxes, in 
proportion to the vast mass of matters simulta¬ 
neously acted on, and the additional trouble and 
expense attending their use, have been sufficient 
to forbid their adoption. 

In regard to another material, universally used 
throughout Great Britain, in the manufacture of 
iron,—the coal , it will be sufficient for our present 
purpose to present a few memoranda as to the 
varieties in its constitution, cost of extraction, and 
the proportions in which it is practically applied. 
For any thing farther on this subject, the reader is 
referred to Mr. Holland’s History and Description 
of Fossil Fuel, etc.; where may be found a full and 
interesting account of the coal formation throughout 
England and Wales; including, under this general 


149 


name, all the specialties which are regarded in the 
terms, coal measures , coal fields , and coal basins; 
the first of which is generally applied, in view of the 
order of succession, thickness, and other circum¬ 
stances of interest in the economy of mining: the 
second to the surface, extent, and relations of the 
districts in which the coal is found, which pertains 
more to political economy: and the third is more 
proper in considerations derived from the inclina¬ 
tion, curvature, and other geological incidents of the 
coal strata. Our object being solely a metallurgic 
view, I shall present first some tables of analyses, 
which will aid in any classification for the purposes 
of the iron-master,—omitting in those tables the 
details of the ultimate elements of the material, 
whose chief interest is for the chemical philosopher. 

Table I. Of the constitution of European Coals employed in 
Metallurgic operations; and which may be called Fat Coals. 



Anzin. 

Balayre. 

Lassalle 

Alais. 

Rive de 
Gier. 

Dour. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Carbon:. 

71.5 

58.5 

50.6 

68. 

66.5 

71.5 

Ashes, etc.:. 

3.5 

3.1 

7. 

10.4 

2. 

5.2 

Volatile Matter: . . . 

25. 

38.4 

42.4 

21.6 

31.5 

23.3 


100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

. 100. 

Specific Gravity: . . . 

1.284 




1.280 

1.270 


Wigan. 

Glamor- 

New- 

Do. 

Do. 

Stafford- 


gan shire. 

castle. 

shire. 


7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

Carbon:. 

52.6 

77.7 

76. 

60.5 

67.5 

62.4 

Ashes, etc.:. 

3.4 

2.7 

5.4 

4. 

2.5 

3.5 

Volatile matter: . . . 

44. 

19.6 

18.6 

35.5 

30. 

34.1 


100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

Specific Gravity: . . . 

1.277 

1.310 

1.340 

• • 

• • 

. 





























































150 


• 

o' 

• 

Swansea. 

<N 

PH 

. ^ <© 
oo eo’ od 
00 

© 

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<45 

,, 'Si 

-<> 

e 

CJ 

a* 

Do. 

13 

1 

cd d co 
oo 

100. 

1.580 








•§ 

IO 

ft 

fc 

< 

t-3 

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Rolduc. 

pH 

87. 

2.7 

10.3 

o 

o 

i—i 

§- 

<45 

a 

« 

Lehigh, 

Pa. 

12 

i-4 ift CD 

© oi co 

C5 

99.2 

1.550 


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W 

so 





d in, or 





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00 

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14.66 

100. 

1.302 






a 

a 

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1 



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SHIRE. 

Tipton. 


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82.01 

2.99 

15. 

© 

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1.350 





a- © 


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79.97 

1.63 

18.40 



Metal 

name 


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100. 

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burg. 

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d 

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20.75 



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1.386 






a 

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80.08 

19.92 



a 

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a 

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w 

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100. 

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3 

100. 

1.552 

vg 

£ 

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pH 

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1.525 

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• • - 

• • 


Table III. Of the 

Lone 
con in 

1 

85. 

15. 

100. 

1.584 

Table II. 




Carbon: . . 

Ashes, etc.: . 
Volatile Matter 



Carbon: . . ) 
Ashes: . . 5 

Volatile Matter: 


Specific Gravity:! 





















































































































151 


Analysis of Fat Coals: 

Nos. 1—5 are from France, and their composi¬ 
tion determined by M. Berthier. No. 1 has been 
inserted because, in spite of its theoretically excellent 
constitution, it is found to be of inferior usefulness 
for smelting. Nos. 2 and 3, besides their metallurgic 
value, furnish about 12 per cent, of gas. 

No. 4 is from the mine of Rochebelle near Alais 
(Gard.) This furnishes, on the large scale, 55 to 
60 per cent, of coke, of excellent quality. No. 5, 
from the mine of Grande-Croix, near Rive de Gier 
(Loire) also produces a superior coke. 

No. 6 is from the neighbourhood of Mons in the 
Netherlands; and furnishes coke of superior quality. 

No. 7 is the cannel-coal of Lancashire—so called, 
says Dr. Thomson, from the brilliant candle-like 
flame, which it gives out. Dr. Ure has given an 
analysis of another specimen, from the neighbour¬ 
hood of Glasgow, which differs considerably from 

this. He makes it 

Carbon:.72.22 

Volatile matter: . . 27.78 

100 . 

The volatile matter he ascertained to consist of, 
Oxygen: .... 21.05 

Hydrogen: . . • • 3.93 

Nitrogen: . . • • 2.80 

27.78 


The proportion of ashes he has not stated. 








152 


No. 8 is only stated to have come from Glamor¬ 
ganshire. It is probably from some of the lower 
beds. The cinders are perfectly w r hite; an indica¬ 
tion of freedom from pyrites. 

No. 9 is from Newcastle; but I hardly know 
that it is actually employed in any smelting estab¬ 
lishment. It is given more as characteristic. Its 
ashes are white, and contain 30 per cent, of lime. 

Nos. 10 and 11 are specimens collected by M. 
Dufrenoy; the first from the Birtly Iron-works, 
near Newcastle,—the second from the Tyne Iron¬ 
works. No. 12 is likewise by M. Dufrenoy, from 
the Apedale Works, near Newcastle-under-Lyne in 
Staffordshire. These three last are proved to be 
incapable of application to the manufacture of iron, 
unless previously coked. 

All the analyses of this table w r ere made by M. 
Berthier. 

Analysis of Dry coals: 

No. 1, from the Dowlais Works, is remarkable for 
‘being composed of tw r o distinct portions,—one bril¬ 
liant and separating in small cubes; the other dull, 
with a conchoidal fracture, and analogous to the 
cannel-coalthese two kinds are not mixed in the 
mass, but form separate layers. 

No. 2, from Cyfarthfa, exhibits the same difference 
in its component parts; but another arrangement,— 
the bright and dull portions being irregularly mixed. 
The dull portion seems to approach the nature of 




153 


anthracite; and it is said that, from the observation 
of this at Cyfarthfa, the hope was conceived of the 
successful employment of the culm , near Swansea. 

No. 3 is in structure approaching the Cyfarthfa; 
only, the two portions are not so intimately mixed. 
All these three kinds admit of being used rate with 
cold blast . 

In regard to Nos. 4—9, no other remark is neces¬ 
sary, except that they are only capable of being used 
raw when the hot-blast is employed . 

No. 10, 11, and 12, are of the nature of anthra¬ 
cites. No. 12 is in fact the culm, which is em¬ 
ployed in part, at the Yniscedwin Works of Mr. 
Crane near Swansea; and in which much interest 
has been felt by the Pennsylvania iron-masters.. 

Dry coals in Maryland : 

No. 1—4 are from the analysis of Mr. Tyson, of 
the coals used at the Lonaeoning Iron-works in this 
state. No. 4 is of a large bed, fourteen feet thick; 
and in its physical character, strongly resembles the 
Dowlais coal just mentioned,—chemically, it more 
resembles the Pen-y-darran coal. All these coals 
are used raw with hot , or cold blast . 

No. 5 is furnished from a mine near Frostburg. 
The analysis is by Professor Daniel!. 

No. 6, from the same neighbourhood, is the ana¬ 
lysis of Dr. Ure. 

No. 7, from the same region, was analysed by Mr. 
David Mushet. 

20 



154 


Nos. 8 and 9 are from Professor Silliman’s report 
before quoted, page 108. No. 8 was taken from 
the so-called Hoffman mine, near Frostburg. The 
earthy matters in the ashes were found to be in 
these proportions: viz. 


Peroxide of iron:.1*33 

Silica:.1. 

Alumina:.. • *33 


Lime, and a trace of Magnesia: . . .33 

2.99 

No. 9 is from a three-feet bed, on Mr. Howell’s 
estate. Some of the component parts of the ashes 
appear to have been in the following proportions: 


Peroxide of iron :.1.42 

Silica:. 2.05 

Alumina:.1.42 


Lime, and a trace of Magnesia: . . 1.42 

No. 10 is Professor Renwick’s analysis of a speci¬ 
men from the same bed. 

No. 11 is an analysis, by Professor Silliman, of a 
specimen from the upper part of the same bed. I 
have never seen the locality; but the coal probably 
resembles physically the Dowlais and Lonaconing 
coals. The seam is said to be about two inches 
thick. It is a semi-anthracite; the hitherto-denomi¬ 
nated cannel-coals containing a notable proportion of 
volatile matter, as may be seen in the No. 7 of table 
I., which is taken from Wigan. Also Dr. Thomson 











155 


gives another analysis of cannel-coal from the Lan¬ 
cashire basin, as follows: 

Carbon:. . . 64.72 

("Hydrogen: . . 21.56) 

Volatile matters, <J Oxygen: . . . 0.00 J> 35.28 

f Azote: . . . 13.72 j 

100 . 

And M. Karsten separates the constituents of can- 
nel-coal, from Kilkenny in Ireland (where there are 
true anthracites also) as follows: 

Carbon:.74.47 

Ashes:.50 

Volatile matter: . . 25.01 

99.98 


No. 12, which an analysis, by Mr. Vanuxem, of 
Lehigh coal, and No. 13, by M. Berthier, of coal 
from the same region, are given to conclude the 
series of dry coals:—which, commencing at a point 
in chemical constitution, where the oxygen predomi¬ 
nates over the hydrogen among the volatile mat¬ 
ters, and mechanically, when the coal first ceases to 
cake in burning, terminates in pure anthracite. I 
do not, of course, know if these coals have been ever 
employed in metallurgy; but I give them as repre¬ 
sentatives of the probable elements of the anthracite, 
which has lately, with success, been employed in the 
reduction of iron ores, near Pottsville in Pennsyl- 










156 

vania, and of whose more precise constitution I 
am not aware. 

In regard to the applicability of different coals to 
the blast furnace, I have already distinguished, in 
the notes to the tables just given, such as are used 
raw, and those that require coking. From an in¬ 
spection of their respective constitutions, the con¬ 
clusion of M. Dufrenoy seems warranted, that: 

J °. The coal employed raw in blast-furnaces, with 
cold blast, must be dry, and highly charged with 
carbon: 

2°. Coal, which has a notable proportion of bitu¬ 
men, may yet, if of the dry kind, be employed raw, 
but only with hot blast: and 

3°. Fat, caking coal, and such as alters its shape 
and volume to any considerable extent by the appli¬ 
cation of heat, is incapable of being applied raw, 
under any temperature of blast hitherto produced. 

Such is the importance of coking , in the respective 
kinds of coal. In its nature, this process is generally 
the driving off, or evaporizing, the greatest part of 
the volatile matters, along with which go also, in 
greater or less degree, the impurities which are 
associated with the coal. Its precise effect will be 
best shewn by the following table; which exhibits 
the analysis of several kinds of coke, prepared in 
different places in France on a large scale, for the 
use of blast furnaces. 


157 


Analysis of Coke, prepared on a large scale for Blast-furnaces. 



La 

Garre. 

1 

Bes- 

seges. 

2 

Le 

Treuil. 

3 

Rive 
de Gier. 

4 

DurbanJ 

5 

Mont¬ 

martre. 

6 

Luxem¬ 

bourg. 

7 

MEAN. 

8 

Carbon: . . . 

85.8 

82.4 

82. 

75. 

71.5 

64. 

59. 

74.2 

Ashes: ... 

11.5 

13.8 

15. 

21.5 

23.5 

28. 

23. 

19.5 

Volatile matters: 

2.7 

3.8 

3. 

3.5 

5. 

8. 

18. 

6.3 


100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 


These analyses are made by M. Berthier; and the 
last column has been added, because it will be found 
to represent very nearly the average constitution of 
cokes prepared in quantity. 

No. 4 is a coke from the coal of Rive de Gier, 
used in the iron-works of Lavoulte, in France. The 
analysis of the coal itself, from the same mine, is 
given under No. 5 of table I. on page 149. Also 
M. Landrin has given an analysis of the ashes of the 
same coal, as follows: 

Water, oil, gas: . . 41. 

Carbon: .... 52. 

Oxide of iron: . . 2.2 

Silica:..... 1.5 

96.7 

These statements, taken in connexion, would ena¬ 
ble us to trace the useful affinities of the carbon and 
other elements, through the different states of the 
combustible. A number of such analyses, carefully 
made, would without doubt aid in filling up several 
points, which are still undetermined, or not ac¬ 
counted for, in the Theory of blast furnaces. 


































158 


Besides the inferences that flow from the preced¬ 
ing tabular statements and remarks, the following 
generalities on the nature and employment of coal, 
coked and uncoked, appear to me to be warranted 
by the experience of the English iron-works. 

The calorific power, or heating effect of coke and 
coal, may be considered generally as equal to that 
of charcoal, which is itself in this regard about twice 
as efficient as wood: but the metallurgic effect, 
which is different from their absolute heating power 
(owing to the fact that coke, from its refractory 
nature, requires an excess of air, and therefore in 
the furnace burns to waste) may be stated, for the 
four substances as follows: 

Equal volumes:— Coal : Wood :: 5:1. 

Equal weights:— do. do. : : 15 : 8. 

Equal volumes:— Coke : Charcoal : : 2:1. 

Equal weights:— do. do. : : 10 : 17. 

These proportions are, in fact, subject to conside¬ 
rable variations; both from the quality of the coal 
itself, and also from the methods and care taken in 
the coking. Thus: 

At Plymouth, 6 tons coal yield 5 tons coke; or S3 per cent. 

Pen-y-darran, 6720 lbs. do. 5400 lbs. do. or 80 per cent. 

Dowlais, 720 lbs. do. 475 lbs. do. or 66 per cent. 

But at the last mentioned locality, they devote but 
little care to the operation; otherwise the product 
would be more in accordance with the theoretical 
result, which, according to table II. p. 150, is about 
82 per cent. 




159 


M. Karsten has given large and elaborate tables 
of the results of experiments, on small quantities of 
different kinds of coal. A short abstract may not be 
without interest. 


Table shewing the quantity of Coke 'produced from different kinds 

of Coal in Europe. 


LOCALITY. 

CLASS. 

Specific 

Gravity 

Coke 
per 100. 

REMARKS. 

Silesia: 

Fat coal , 

1.296 

69.3 

Mean of 7 experiments. 

“ Hultschin, 

do. 

1.316 

86.9 

Maximum of 7 

do. 

“ Czernitz, 

do. 

1.362 

58.5 

Minimum of 7 

do. 

Eschweiler, 

do. 

1.298 

82. 

Mean of 3 

do. 

Westphalia, 

do. 

1.287 

82.9 

Mean of 3 

do. 

Newcastle, 

do. 

1.256 

68.5 



Silesia: 

Short coal. 

1.330 

70.2 

Mean of 9 

do. 

“ Reine Louise, 

(Houille maigre,) 

1.332 

88.4 

Maximum of 9 

do. 

“ Caroline, 

J ° 

do. 

1.280 

61.5 

Minimum of 9 

do. 

Westphalia: 

do. 

1.319 

83.6 

Mean of 4 

do. 

“ Hamburg, 

do. 

1.323 

89.1 

Maximum of 4 

do. 

“ Louise, 

do. 

1.292 

72.8 

Minimum of 4 

do. 

Mons, 

do. 

1.308 

88. 



Silesia: 

Dry coal. 

1.324 

64.1 

Mean of 8 

do. 

“ Laure, 

do. 

1.304 

70. 

Maximum of 8 

do. 

“ Theodore, 

do. 

1.294 

53.5 

Minimum of 8 

do. 

Kilkenny, 

do. 

1.423 

69.8 



Westphalia, 

Anthracite. 

1.358 

92.4 

Mean of 3 

do. 

Bardenberg, 

do. 

1.336 

94.9 

Mean of 4 

do. 


Farther, the loss of weight in the carbonization 
of wood is, according to the experiments of Proust, 
Mushet, and Scopoli, from 75 to 80 per cent. MM. 
Allen and Pepys make it even 82 and 85 per cent, 
for some kinds of wood. The same Joss in coal is 
from 25 to 40 per cent. 

The radiating effect of coal and coke, M. Peclet 
considers as greater than that of wood: but in prac¬ 
tice, the ashes of the coke, which are very refrac¬ 
tory, require a higher temperature, and of course 














160 


the consumption of more of their associated carbon, 
for their fusion, than the ashes of wood. 

The absolute calorific effect of coke is greater 
than that of any other substance; when sufficiently 
favoured by circumstances, such as large quantity 
and free access of air. It raises the temperature of 
an assay-furnace 10° p. higher than any other com¬ 
bustible. 

These effects may probably be traced to its supe¬ 
rior density; nearly proportionate to which, are the 
effects of coke of various specific gravities. 

The specific gravity of good coke should be about 
that of water; it not unfrequently surpasses it. 

For particular purposes, a light coke is sometimes 
the best; as where an extreme temperature is not 
required. The whole consumption of the combusti¬ 
ble will be found, at the end of such an operation, 
less than if a more dense article, requiring more 
rapid combustion, had been used. But for high- 
furnaces (and this holds good, more and more in 
proportion to the greater heights of the furnaces, 
from the friability of light cokes under pressure) a 
dense hard coke—which has not suffered much 
change of shape, whose colour is an iron-grey or 
perhaps more nearly that of graphite, and whose 
lustre is more silky than semi-metallic,—is likely to 
be the best. 

The aptitude of different coals for making good 
coke, seems to depend upon their chemical constitu- 


161 


tution; which is nevertheless recognizable, to a cer¬ 
tain extent, in the physical character. Thus, if the 
proper degree of fusibility (or disposition to cake) 
depends upon the proportions of oxygen and hydro¬ 
gen, and supposing that hydrogen communicates this 
fusibility (all which is warranted by the analyses),— 
then it appears that great lustre, but deficient hard¬ 
ness and elasticity, manifest the presence of this ele¬ 
ment: on the contrary, great lustre, an intensely 
black color, and much hardness, indicate the predo¬ 
minance of oxygen, associated with a large propor¬ 
tion of carbon. In general the lustre and color 
seem to belong more to the carbon; and the me¬ 
chanical accidents, hardness, elasticity, etc. to the 
other bases. 

Two methods are pursued in Great Britain for 
coking the coal;—the one in clamps in the open 
air, like those before mentioned under the head of 
ore-roasting; the other in ovens, constructed for the 
purpose, of various shapes, dimensions, and energies. 

In Staffordshire, the first method is universal; and 
to the great care which is taken in that district, may 
be ascribed, in part, the acknowledged superiority 
of their foundry iron. The ground immediately 
around the furnace-stack is covered with low, 
loosely-built chimneys; around which the coals are 
piled in heaps somewhat conical—‘generally fifteen 
feet in diameter, and four feet high. Large coal is 
21 


162 


laid at the bottom,—the smaller coals (to be coked) 
above; the fire is introduced by means of the chim¬ 
ney, and once started, the access of air is regulated 
by a covering of slack coal and coal ashes. Such a 
clamp, of which there will be thirty or forty in the 
same groupe, contains from 12 to 15 tons; the cokes 
can be drawn in about a week; and the average 
yield is not found above 60 per cent. The process 
is under the management of a person, who is aided 
by one helper (or at most one man and one boy- 
helper) and who receives 4d. (8 cents) per ton of 
coke made. 

The cost of 1 ton of coke may then be made out 
thus: 

1J tons of coal at 7 shillings : . . 10s. Gd. 

-fa “ of slack at 3 shillings: . 3| 

Labor: . 4 


11 $. 1 \d. 

or about $2.67 of American currency. 

The cost of the bricks, etc. for the chimnevs, is 
too minute to be separated, and is allowed for in the 
cost of the slack coal. 

It should be remarked, that the Staffordshire iron¬ 
masters very rarely have any interest or concern in 
working the coal themselves: but purchase it from 
other proprietors or lessees. In Wales, on the con¬ 
trary, the coal is almost always worked by the hands 
of the establishment. 






163 


In Wales, and Scotland, both of the methods 
spoken of are applied; only the details of the ar¬ 
rangement are not the same as those in Staffordshire. 
In Wales, instead of a conical heap, they make an 
oblong pile thirty-five or forty feet long, six or eight 
feet wide at the base, and four feet high. Some¬ 
times, there are chimneys built in it: but often the 
draft is left to be produced by the arrangement of 
the lumps of coal. The pile, containing about thirty 
tons of coal, is fired in three or four places; and the 
operation is terminated in three or four days, in the 
neighbourhood of Merthyr. The different qualities 
of the coal of the Glamorgan basin in the two extre¬ 
mities, east and west, make a great difference also in 
their application to and result in coking. At the 
Varteg Works for instance, in Monmouthshire, the 
coal is of that class, which may be denominated fat 
coal; while at Merthyr, it is dry: further west, near 
Swansea, it is anthracitic , and what is found in 
Pembrokeshire is like our Pennsylvania anthracite. 
The product in coke, however, taking an average 
of the bituminous coals, I should think would be not 
less than 75 per cent. 

The same methods which are here described, I 
have seen used at the Lonaconing Iron-works in 
this State. The yield of coke (which has been 
entirely made from the bed whose constitution is 
given under No. 4, table III.) is about 76 per cent.; 
and under favourable circumstances, the operation is 
concluded in four or five days. 



164 


In Scotland, they in part use the Staffordshire 
methods, and in part, ovens; the loss of weight is 
about 50 per cent.; and a clamp of twenty tons will 
be drawn on the eighth and ninth day. But the 
Very general employment of hot-blast, with which 
the Scottish coals are applicable in their raw state, 
has contributed much to diminish the amount of 
coking done. 

The average cost of coke, made in this manner 
may thus be stated for the districts mentioned: 

s# d* 

Scotland: Glasgow; 2 tons coal: 1 . . 9 

T V “ slack: ... 1J 
Labor: . . ; * . 4§ 

— 1 Dots. Cts. 

Cost of 1 ton of coke: . 9 5f or 2 27$ 


England: Staffordshire; as before: . . ; . 11 1J or 2 67 

Wales: Merthyr; 11 tons coal: . . 5 4 

“ slack: . . 0$ 

Labor:. 1* 

5 6J or 1 321 

Maryland: Lonaconing; L3 tons coal: . . 65 Cts. 


A “ slack: . . 01$ 

Labor and carriage: 22$ - 89 

1 The price of coal is put down at 44 shillings per ton; which includes the 
cost of transportation. The actual working prices are, as I have been in- 

t .■ . 

formed, as follow: 

Si (tm 

Main coal: 6 feet thick, . . lOd. to 1 per ton. 


Ell-coal: 3 do.13 do. 

Piedshaw: 34 do.1 3 do. 

Splint: 4 do. > . . . . 1 2 do. 












165 


The employment of ovens is considered more 
economical^ in regard to the proportion of coke 
made; and it is probable also in the quality;—the 
oven-coke being somewhat more dense and hard 
than the clamp-coke. No particular; or even prin¬ 
cipal; plan seems to have been adopted in Wales ; as 
to the shape of the oven; the only thing of impor¬ 
tance being to obtain, by means of properly secured 
apertures; 2 such a control over the draft; as to in¬ 
crease or diminish it at pleasure; to apply it at any 
required point; or finally to exclude it altogether for 
a season. 

I regret that I cannot present here an authentic 
account of the expenses and product from any estab¬ 
lishment using ovens; whose result would admit of 
being compared, in product and cost; with those of a 
similar coal; coked in the open air. At an establish¬ 
ment in France (Le Creusot), where the product of 
coke by weight is 49 per cent, of the coal employed; 
the cost of 1000 kilogrammes (which may be taken 
as 1 ton) of coke is stated as follows: 

Coal:.12/. 53c. 

Hauling: .... 92 

Labor: .... 1 78 
Interest on construction: 41 

15/. 64c. or S3.14. of our money. 

2 A perfect closure of the apertures is of much economy. By the substitu¬ 
tion of cast-iron shutters sliding in grooves, for others which simply closed on 
hinges, the product from the same coal has been practically found, at Decaze- 
ville, to be 49 per cent, instead of 40 per cent, which it was before. 




166 


This is much clearer than the cost given above for 
English and American furnaces. 

In conclusion, it may be said that: 

1°. The oven-coke can be made from slack, and 
otherwise cheaper or useless coals: the clamps 
require coal of size. 

2°. The product has been found, from ovens, 
about 10 per cent, more, at the same establishment, 
using the same coals. 

3°. The yield is more uniform from ovens; and 
not subject to those large discounts, which have 
sometimes to be suffered in the use of clamps, from 
their accidentally firing and being consumed entirely, 
during a high wind. It is not uncommon, in Wales, 
thus to lose 50 or 100 tons in one afternoon or 
night. 

4°. The skill required in the management of ovens 
is more costly, or at least more difficult to be pro¬ 
cured, than that requisite for clamps; and the labor 
of drawing greater: at least, in Great Britain and 
America. 

5°. The quality of the coke made in ovens should 
be, in theory, better, because it is more dense and 
hard; but in practice, the coke of the open air is 
nevertheless preferred by furnace-managers. This 
preference is probably founded on the fact of coal of 
worse quality being generally employed in ovens, 
and also from the sulphur and other impurities being, 
in some cases, more readily and completely evapo- 


167 


rized, from exposure of a greater surface, in air. 
The few chemical analyses however, which have 
been made, do not tend to confirm this last hypo¬ 
thesis. 

6°. Finally, it is probable that the preference of 
one or the other mode should be justified by the 
nature of the coal,—there being some coals, which 
will not coke at all, otherwise than in the open air. 

Another material, of great importance in the 
manufacture of iron, is the air, which is injected 
into the furnace. The considerations attached to 
this particular, however, belong to the next chapter; 
where I propose to discuss some of the principal 
chemical phenomena of blast-furnaces. It may be 
stated here, that the air should be as dry as possible; 
and that the average constitution of the different 
minerals used in the furnace, requires for combustion, 
cementation, and fusion, an atmosphere somewhat 
more dense than the ordinary air we breathe. This 
excess of density will be, at a mean, equivalent to 3 
inches of mercury, or 1| pounds. 

The whole quantity of air (by weight) admitted 
into the furnace, in any given time, say a day, is 
enormous; being nearly three times the weight of 
all the other materials together. Thus, in a furnace 
making 9 tons of iron per day, the weight of all 
the mineral materials charged in that time will be 


168 


about 61 tons: the weight of the air 3 will be in the 
same time (at 3500 cubic feet per minute) 171 tons: 
It takes therefore nineteen tons of air for one ton of 
iron. The cost of applying this, is the quotient of 
the annual charges for wear and tear of machinery, 
attendance, and fuel, divided by the number of tons 
made in the same period. In the usual accounts, 
this is included in the charge for interest and labor. 

As a conclusion to these generalities, which it 
seemed necessary to preface in regard to the means 
applied in coke furnaces, I subjoin here a columnar 
statement of the average quantities and cost of the 
different materials, and of the labor, necessary about 
one ton of iron. This average has been deduced 
from the working of twenty-three furnaces in Wales, 
Staffordshire, and Scotland; which I either visited 
myself, or derived the information from unexception¬ 
able sources;—for the hot-blast workings in Scotland 
I have taken the statement of M. Dufrenoy, pub¬ 
lished in 1837. Of these twenty-three furnaces, ten 
were making forge-pig, and the remainder foundry 
iron: and only three were using the hot-blast. 

I have preferred to exhibit this average, rather the 
details from which I have deduced it, because it 
accords more with the general feeling, which I have 
found, among the Iron-workers, of aversion to hav- 

3 The weight of 100 cubic inches of atmospheric air, at 60° F. and 30 
inches of the barometer, may be taken at 31 grains, very nearly; hence a 
cubic foot may be estimated at 0.0765 pounds avoirdupois. 


I 


169 


ing what they consider their private affairs, laid 
before the public; though I bear cheerful testimony 
to the uniform politeness and accessibility, which 
were extended to me, both in England and America, 
during the inquiries preliminary to this Report. For 
my own part, however, I am far from thinking that 
the interests of the iron-masters would be disserved 
by a full publicity of their individual results; it is, 
after all, the necessities of the public which appor¬ 
tions the price of their manufacture; and that price, 
under the same existing necessities, would be upon 
a general average the same, whether it brought to 
the manufacturers a profit of 40 per cent, on the 
cost, or no profit at all. Under circumstances of 
ordinary prudence, in the selection of particular dis¬ 
tricts or particular sites, for the investment of capital 
in this manufacture, it is the skill and discretion with 
which it is conducted, that causes success or reverses; 
and it may well be a question, whether as much 
harm has not been done to the interest of those, who 
are still permanently successful, by an injudicious 
competition of capitalists entering upon a business 
which, for want of information, eventuated disas¬ 
trously, as could possibly have accrued from any 
division of their profits among rivals, who, well in¬ 
formed upon all items, could calculate the event of 
every step before it was taken. An illustration of 
this may be found in the fact, that among the details 
in my possession, of ten furnaces making the same 
22 


170 


quality of iron, the difference between the highest 
and the lowest is only £\ 3s. Id. (or $5.54,) a dif¬ 
ference universally within the profits of the manu¬ 
facture, and in point of fact, in the particular cases 
I allude to, atoned for by the different demands of 
the market in the two districts, in which the furnaces 
were situated. But I leave this subject, in order to 
present the statement spoken of. 


Table shewing the averaged quantities and prices of the Materials 
together with the cost of Labor for one ton of crude iron, requisite 
throughout Great Britain in the year 1839. 


MATERIALS AND LABOR. 

Quantity 
in tons. 

COST. 

£ s. d. 

$ cts. 

Coal: inclusive of Engine: . . . . 

Mine:. 

Limestone:. 

Labor and incidentals :. 

5.054 

3.015 

0.749 

1 2 1 

1 4 0 
2 11 
17 0 

5 30 
5 76 
70 
4 08 

3 6 0 

15 84 


It was not possible in every case, to procure the 
quantity of coal used in the engine, separate from 
that which was used in the furnace; and I have 
therefore united them in this statement. But in 
seven cases, where the distinction was made, the 
average was 0.936 tons of coal, costing Is. 9 \d. per 
ton of metal. This low price is in consequence of 
the slack 4 coal being in some cases applied, though 
not in all. 


* This word slack has already been employed several times; and although 
its signification is doubtlessly well understood, it may be a matter of curiosity 
to some readers to know its origin. It is borrowed from the German schlich ; 

















171 


The labor and incidentals do not include wear and 
tear, or interest on the capital invested. I apprehend 
that 7s. additional; would cover the average of these 
last items; and the total cost therefore of a ton of 
iron ; at the furnace; would be £3 13 s. sterling; or 
$17.52 of our money. 

Parallel with this statement of the furnaces of 
Great Britain; may be placed one ; derived in a 
similar manner; touching the charcoal furnaces of 
Maryland. 


Table shewing the averaged quantities and prices of the Materials 
and the cost of Labor for one ton of crude iron, in Maryland in 
the year 1839. 


MATERIALS, ETC. 

QUANTITIES. 

COST. 

Charcoal:. 

142 bushels. 

$7 07 

Ore: ... 


9 37 

Lime:. 


75 

Labor:. 


3 83 

Incidentals:. 


2 90 



$23 92 


I apprehend that the amount placed to incidentals 
will nearly; if not quite ; cover wear and tear; but it 
cannot be supposed to bear any part of the interest 
on the capital invested. I am without particular 
information on this head; but presume that about 
two dollars per ton ; would approach the average 
charge for this item. 

which, literally meaning any semi-coherent mass that creeps or flows slowly, 
has been figuratively applied, in mining and metallurgy, to ore, coal, or lime 
in the state of minute reduction, or of powder. The slacking of lime, impro¬ 
perly written slaking , is an illustration of the same use of the word. 


✓ 















172 


\ 


No quantity has been assigned to the lime in the 
table, because of the different sources from which it 
is obtained, and shape in which it is applied. Only 
three furnaces in Maryland use limestone; in quan¬ 
tities varying from seven-tenths to fourteen-tenths of 
a ton, per ton of pig-iron. The others, all employ 
oyster-shells; which is more convenient to their 
respective sites, and also furnishes a purer lime. 
Ten bushels of this article, costing 5 cents per 
bushel, is, I am informed, the dose for one ton of 
crude iron. 

The quantities of charcoal consumed, having been 
stated to me in some instances, by the number of 
bushels, and in others, by the cords of wood pro¬ 
ducing or supposed to produce it, I have deduced 
the average volume by allowing the cord of wood, 
under ordinary circumstances, to produce 40 bushels 
of charcoal. In strict calculation, the cord ought to 
be equivalent to 57 bushels; but without the greatest 
care, under favourable circumstances, such a propor¬ 
tion is never attained. How far the average I have 
taken, accords with the results of the preparation of 
charcoal elsewhere, will be shewn in a table that I 
shall presently offer. 

No definite information as to the weight of the 
charcoal, has been communicated to me; and circum¬ 
stances did not allow me to institute the necessary 
experiments, which, to be worthy of confidence, 
would have required a certain degree of care, and 


173 


a disposition of time not in my power to bestow. I 
nevertheless have collected, from other sources, the 
means of arriving at a probable average; which I 
also combine in the following table. 

lable shewing the number of bushels and pounds-weight of Charcoal 

produced by one cord of Wood, in various places in France and 
Germany. 


LOCALITY. 

Volume in 
bushels. 

Weight in 
pounds. 

Weight of 1 
bushel deduced. 

Nievre : . 

31 

480 

15.48 lbs. 

Audincourt : Wood split : ... 

41 

623 

15.20 

“ Wood round: . . . 

36 

559 

15.53 

Chatillon:. 

41 

647 

15.78 

Pyrenees : average:. 

34 

655 

19.27 

Niederbrunn: Oak : . 

56 

871 

15.55 

Beech ; large : . . 

53 

959 

18.10 

Beech; branches: 

35 

631 

18. 

Pine : . 

56 

687 

12.27 

Pontgibaud : Oak : . 

40 

847 

21.17 

Beech : .... 

35 

567 

16.20 

Alder:. 

39 

480 

12.30 

Birch : . 

32 

447 

14. 

Mean numbers deduced: .... 

40.7 

650.2 

16.06 


The results of this table will be found to agree 
very well with the conclusions of Karsten, as to the 
nearly uniform quantity of charcoal furnished, under 
suitable circumstances, from all kinds of wood, indif¬ 
ferently. Rumford had indeed come to the same 
opinion, but upon ill-founded premises: while the 
analysis of the chemists, which determined the woody 
fibre, after proper desiccation, to be identically the 
same substance in all trees, was held to be an opera¬ 
tion not analogous to the carbonization of commerce 



























174 


and metallurgy. Therefore a great discrepancy is 
still founds in the results of the analytic philosophers 
who have experimented upon the subject: as may 
be seen in the single example I shall take, of oak . 


According to 


Weight, per 100 parts of Wood, 
of Charcoal produced from Oak. 


Rumford:.43. 

Hielm:.30. 

Karsten: slowly carbonized: . . 25.60 

Karsten: rapidly carbonized: . . 16.54 

Scopoli:.25. 

Marcus Bull: . 22.76 

Mushet:.22.68 

Proust:.19. 

Allen and Pepys:.17.40 


Allen and Pepys: same specimen 
after exposure to the air, one week: 


20.27 


The causes of this difference are to be found in 
the different circumstances of rapidity or slowness, 
and of degree of temperature, under which the ex¬ 
periments were conducted : an illustration of which 
may be found in the experiments of Karsten, before 
referred to, and an abstract of which I give below, in 
the hopes that it may prove useful to those, who have 
certainly an interest in making their wood produce 
as much charcoal as possible. 

M. Karsten operated, for every kind of wood, upon 
both young and old timber—the difference between 
which is by no means regular, and in no case except 
pine, has amounted to 1 per cent. I have taken 
throughout only the young of the species. 









175 


Table shewing the weight of Charcoal furnished from different 
kinds of wood , in the experiments of M. Karsten. 



CHARCOAL PER 100 PTS. 

DESIGNATION OF WOODS. 

By rapid car- 

By slow car- 


bonization. 

bonization. 

Oak:. 

16.54 

25.60 

Beech, ( fagus sylvatica ):. 

14.88 

25.88 

Hornbeam, ( carpinus betulus): . 

13.12 

25.22 

Alder: . 

14.45 

25.65 

Birch : . 


25.05 

Pitch-pine, ( pinus picea ) :. 

14.25 

25.25 

White-pine, ( pinus abies): . 

16.23 

27.73 

Pine, (pinus sylvestris): . 

15.52 

26.07 

Linden : . 

13.30 

24.60 


Chemically considered, Wood, after having been 
properly treated, so as to drive off the resins, etc. 
with which it is associated, and to leave only the 
lignin , or woody fibre properly so called, is a com¬ 
pound of carbon and water, or rather of oxygen and 
hydrogen in proportion to form water. The propor¬ 
tions of these substances may be taken at a mean; 

Carbon: 51 Carbon: 50 

Oxygen: 43 or still more generally; Water: 50 

Hydrogen: 6 - 

- 100 

100 - 

but in the analysis, in consequence of some affinities 
not clearly understood (but which appear to arise 
from peculiar methods of aggregation,) in some 
species a part of the entire carbon will be taken up 
by the hydrogen, in others oxygen will go over to 
the carbon, and in others again they elect and asso¬ 
ciate indifferently. 



















176 


During distillation, various products are formed; to 
several of which, particular names have been affixed : 
but they are not of interest to our present purpose. 
All that need be remarked is, that many of the vola¬ 
tile products are strongly attractive of carbon at high 
temperatures, and therefore it is proper for the me¬ 
tallurgist to evaporise them with as low a heat as 
possible, both because he thus saves fuel, and because 
in the residuum there will be found more charcoal. 

I shall terminate these details upon charcoal, by 
giving the results of M. Berthier as to the woods of 
Pontgibaud, found in the table on page 173. The 
analysis was made by rapid calcination in a plati- 
mum crucible, and confirms the conclusion of M. 
Karsten already exhibited. 


Table shewing the constitution of several Woods applied to Metal 
lurgic uses , in the department of Puy-de-Dome. 



Oak. 

Beech. 

Alder. 

Birch. 

Carbon: . ..) 

17.1 

13.7 

15.2 

13.7 

Ashes:. \ 

.4 

.3 

.3 

Volatile matter:. 

8*2.5 

86.3 

84.5 

86. 


100. 

100. 

100. 

100. 


Although in regard to the weight of the bushel, 
the several instances in the table, (page 173,) appear 
to differ very sufficiently among themselves, yet 
the mean weights deduced may I think be safely 
relied on. 

M. Landrin gives 5 several experiments made by 
himself on this matter, in different parts of France; 


5 Maitre de Forges: tom. i. p. 206. 




















177 


their mean result for charcoal of oak is 14.64 pounds 
per bushel; and M. Walter 6 gives, as established and 
well recognized weights, per bushel: 


Charcoal of Hard woods : 

lbs. 

lbs. 

Beech, (butt and body): 

. . 20.8 to 22.4 

Beech, (branches): . . 

. . 18.4 

19.2 

Oak, (butt and body): . 

. . 17.6 

20. 

Oak, (undergrowth): 

. . 16. 

16.8 

Charcoal of Soft woods; 7 

Average:. 

. . 11.2 

14.4 

Charcoal of Resinous woods : 

Pine and Fir: . . . . 

. . 14.4 

17.6 


16.4 

18.4 


Mean: . . 17.4 


The mean of 17.4 and 14.64 is 16.02 pounds per 
bushel, a quantity but little differing from that 
already established. 

I shall notice only one particular in regard to the 
weights of M. Walter, because it is of interest to 
the metallurgist in his operations, and at least should 
be borne in mind in any experiment to ascertain 
the weight of charcoal. This is, that the charcoal of 
this observer had been sometime in store, and was 
therefore heavier by the moisture which it attracts 
from the atmosphere. It is no doubt for this reason, 
that the computation and commerce in this article is 

s Metallurg. de Fer: p. 33. 

7 The class of soft woods consists of the chesnut, the linden, the birch, the 
alder, the aspen, and the poplar. 

23 









178 


always by volume, and not by weight. Otherwise, 
in buying by weight, the furnace-owner would both 
pay more, and obtain a worse article; inasmuch as 
the redundancy of moisture has to be all expelled, at 
the expense of heat in the furnace. But it must be 
said, that the greatest absorption takes place in the 
first twenty-four hours. 

MM. Allen and Pepys found, that in this manner 
there was an increase in weight, at the end of a 
week, in 

Charcoal from Oak: . . of 1G.5 per 100. 


Beech: . . 

16.3 

Fir: . . . 

13. 

Mahogany: . 

18. 

Box: . . . 

14. 

Lignumvitje: 

9.6 


It seems, however, that the absorbing effect is not 
according to any regular rule. 

The average quantity of charcoal, employed in 
Maryland to make one ton of crude iron, may be 
taken then, in accordance with what precedes, at 
2280.5 pounds, or generally 102 of charcoal for 100 
of iron. This appears to be a small consumption, 
and it may be therefore not uninteresting to compare 
it with the con umption elsewhere. 

M. Hassenfratz 8 has already collected extensive 
details on this subject, as it existed fifty years ago: 


• Siderotechnie: tom. ii. p. 38. 


179 


the result of which may be briefly stated; as giving, 
on one hundred and twenty-two furnaces, in Styria, 
Siberia, Hungary, Sweden, Saxony, the Low-Coun¬ 
tries, and France, a mean of 193 parts by weight of 
charcoal for 100 parts of crude iron. The lowest 
proportion he found in Styria and Carinthia, viz: 
66 charcoal per cent, iron; and the highest in Hun¬ 
gary, where it was 549 charcoal per cent. iron. The 
average of the Swedish furnaces was 127 per cent.; 
and that of fourteen furnaces in France 150 per cent. 

Since the introduction of the Hot-blast, a consi¬ 
derable economy of combustible has also taken place. 

M. Dufrenoy gives 9 as the consumption at 

Riouperou, (Isere): 127 of charcoal per 100 iron. 

Wasseralfingen, (Wurtemb.): 113 do. 100 iron. 

Bachzimmern. (Bavaria): 81 do. 100 iron. 

The mean of which is 107 do. 100 iron. 

The consumption in Tuscany 10 is also very small; 
the minimum being . 89 of charcoal per 100 iron, 

and the average . . 103.7 do. 100 iron. 

At the furnace of Cecina, in the same State, (with 

cold-air ,) it is . . 100 of charcoal per 100 iron. 

At the furnace of Malapane in Silesia, 11 (with hot 
air,) the consumption is 171 of charcoal per 100 iron. 

Excluding the data of M. Hassenfratz, except in 
regard to Sweden, where the results are still nearly 
the same, the mean of the other statements given 

9 Voyage Metallurgique: tom. i. p. 445, etc. 

10 Garella: Ann. des Mines: tom. xvi. p. 32. 

u Chatelier: Ann. des Mines : tom. xvi. p. 102. 


I 


180 


shew a proportion of charcoal of 105.6 (equal to 
528 wood) per 100 of crude iron; which may be 
adopted as a general average, under all the modern 
improvements, throughout Europe and America. 

The causes influencing the consumption of the 
combustible (of whatever kind) in Metallurgy, ap¬ 
pear to be of two kinds, chemical and mechanical. 
Among the former may be mentioned as chief, the 
fusible association of the ores, which generally, 
(though not always) is connected with the per 
centage of metal in said ores; next, the character of 
the flux employed; and lastly, the kind of iron 
which is aimed at. But in this last particular, the 
state of our knowledge is not enough advanced to 
enable us to speak with precision. 

The mechanical causes of greater or less consump¬ 
tion are principally, the section, and general shape, 
together with the height, of the stack and its chim¬ 
ney,—in short, whatever tends to promote the draft 
of the furnace. As to what regards the air itself 
blown in, and its temperature, the causes are of a 
mixed chemico-mechanical nature, and are very in¬ 
fluential. 

I shall conclude this subject by inserting a table 
prepared by M. Walter, as to the probable propor¬ 
tions of combustible for different classes of ores. If 
not accurate, it gives at least a basis for observation 
and induction. 


181 


Table shewing the probable consumption of Charcoal per 100 of 
crude Iron, with Ores of different sorts. 


DENOMINATION. 

Proportion 
of Metal 
per 100. 

Charcoal con¬ 
sumed per 100 
of Metal. 

Fusible ores—yielding: .... 

25 

to 

30 

66 

to 

90 

30 

to 

35 

90 

to 

110 


35 

to 

40 

120 

to 

130 

Ores of mean fusibility—yielding: . 

30 

to 

40 

110 

to 

140 

40 

to 

50 

140 

to 

180 


50 

to 

60 

180 

to 

210 

Ores hardly fusible—yielding: . . 

30 

to 

40 

160 

to 

200 

40 

to 

50 

210 

to 

250 


50 

to 

60 

250 

to 

300 


The manufacture of Iron with coal , has been but 
within the last year introduced in Maryland; and 
there is only one furnace (that at Lonaconing, before 
mentioned) applicable to this purpose. The result 
was one, I believe, of entire success, both as regards 
the facility and economy of the manufacture:—the 
quantity made in any given time almost trebling, and 
the actual cost falling notably below, the same items 
in the charcoal furnaces of this State. I do not 
however present any statement of particulars, inas¬ 
much as I am informed that the company, under 
whose auspices the works have been established, do 
not consider even their present results, as an exhibit 
of the average capacity of the means and processes 
at their disposal. 










CHAPTER IV. 

Sec. 1 . Exemplifications of the General Chemical Theory of Blast 

Furnaces. 

The theory of the Metallurgy of Iron, is to present 
to the ores such substances as have an affinity for, and 
will combine with, all the elementary constituents of 
said ores, except the iron: and the problem gene¬ 
rally to be solved, is the assemblage of chese combin¬ 
ing substances in such states and proportions, as will 
tend to their melting and uniting at the lowest point 
of temperature, and consequently with the least ex¬ 
pense of fuel; in other words, to produce the most 
fusible compound. Thus, we offer to the ores in the 
blast-furnaces, the lime , whose solvent properties are 
well known;—thus, the silica and alumina of the 
ores, inert matters which sustain by themselves, with¬ 
out melting, the most intense heat, are made to con¬ 
tribute to an important part;—and even the melted 
metal itself, when separated on the hearth from its 
other associations, is found, at a particular tempera¬ 
ture, to re-act upon the pasty mass of semi-combined 
matters above it. This temperature is always the 
lowest, consistent with fluidity. 


183 


Without entering into much detail as to the prin¬ 
ciples involved in this theory and manipulation, 
which appear to be practically understood by the 
furnace-managers generally in Great Britain and 
America, to a degree sufficient for their purposes, 
it yet is of importance enough to illustrate what has 
been just said, by two or three analytic and synthetic 
tabular statements, which I have been at the pains to 
make out, and which will be prefaced and followed 
by a few explanations and remarks. 1 

The materials supplied to the furnace are of two 

* 

kinds ,—solid and gaseous: and of the same kinds 
are the materials produced. The gaseous material 

1 I annex in this note, as a matter of curiosity, the expressions of Samuel 
Rogers (of whom I have spoken in the Introduction) on the same subject. 

‘The great desideratum,’ says he, ‘in iron making, is to separate all the 
elements combined with the iron in the ores or cinders, from which we wish 
to obtain the metal. These various elements are, all of them, perfectly diffe¬ 
rent insulated atoms, which have the property of uniting and forming various 
compounds; and this inherent property is put into action, either by the pres¬ 
sure of the atmosphere, by magnetic influence, or some other natural though 
yet undiscovered cause,—assisted by caloric, light, and contiguity. This 
being the case, w 7 e have only to know what elements are to be acted upon, 
and withdrawn from their combination with the iron and with each other, to 
point out the additions necessary to attract all the various elements, by a more 
powerful affinity than that which unites them with the iron and with one 
another; producing new compounds, with the additions to effect this purpose. 

‘It is on this account,’ he goes on further, ‘that I so strongly recommend 
the complete and accurate analysis of the different materials employed in iron 
manufacture: for without such information, synthetical attempts to make good 
iron or good furnace-cinder, will always prove irregular and frequently abor¬ 
tive ; and good materials be blamed from improper and random applications.* 
—Letter ii. 


184 


supplied^ is atmospheric air;—the solid matters are ; 
ores of iron; containing an oxide of this metal asso¬ 
ciated principally with silica and alumina; carbon; as 
it exists in wood or coal; together with a small pro¬ 
portion of the aforesaid earths; and an alkaline flux 
(lime); likewise combined with more or less earthy 
matters. 

The resulting solid products are metallic iron; 
united with a very small proportion of carbon;—and 
furnace-cinder (as it is called) containing in varied 
combinations the lime; silica; and alumina. The 
gaseous products are carbonic acid ; carbonic oxide ; 
nitrogen; and water in the state of vapor; and per¬ 
haps atmospheric air ; which has passed undecom¬ 
posed through the furnace and escapes by the 
chimney. 

However difficult it might be; a priori, to deter¬ 
mine the course which the elementary constituents 
of the materials would take in order to form new 
compounds; after having been set free; by the action 
of caloric; from their aggregation in the old; yet 
when we have before us the new compound really 
resulting; we are able to infer with some certainty 
the respective directions of the different proximate 
or ultimate elements; and to define the agency of 
each material in forming the products. This has 
been attempted to be done ; in the anagraph on the 
opposite page. 


185 


02 

H 

O 

fc> 

Q 

O 

Pi 


8 

© 

© 

§ 

a 


o 

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£ 

d 

QJ 


G G 

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■£ 6 o‘ 

*-• t-i 

O .ti 

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02 

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t—i 

PS? 

W 

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<1 


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C§ 


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CJ 

a 

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rG 

S-t 

CJ 

Cu 

0) 

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M 
1—1 

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■G 

W 

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a 

a 

£ 

»-< 


<1 

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£ ° 
P ©lo 
C 3 


“N 


<U 

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G 

£ 

3 


bO 

G 

CJ 

per 

• 

• • 

G 
• ^ 

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3 

tM 

• • 

0) 

£ 

• pH 

Ctf 

to 

§ 

<12 

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• ^ 

fl 

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4-» 

r-H 

X3 

s 

03 

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24 


Alumina, etc.- 






























186 


In this sketch I have endeavoured, by the lines 
reaching from the side of Materials to that of Pro¬ 
ducts, to shew the tendencies and affinities of the 
principal elements which are found in the substances 
used for producing iron; without meaning, however, 
to give in its place each specific element, or to affirm 
that each of the elements which I have given, takes 
precisely and in totality the direction I have assigned 
to it. Thus, in the iron-ore and in the limestone, 
there are ingredients such as magnesia, manganese, 
etc., very frequently met with, but not shewn here: 
nor am I prepared to affirm that the whole of the 
nitrogen , which is shewn as escaping with the car¬ 
bonic acid, is actually got rid of in that way. The 
specifications are, however, minute and exact enough 
to serve as an illustration of the compositions and re¬ 
compositions, which take place in the blast-furnace. 

In order farther to shew the fecundity and extent 
of application of this theory, I shall next give some 
tables more detailed, and based in part upon actually 
existing cases; from which reference may readily be 
made to others, that are in a greater or less degree 
analogous. 

The modern exemplifications of the Atomic system 
shew, that all bodies are chemically united in definite 
and permanent proportions; and that in their de¬ 
compositions and fresh combinations, they are sub¬ 
ject to general laws, which are, among other things, 
expressive of the habitual proportions in which their 


187 


elements tend to form new compounds. The preci¬ 
sion of those laws, however they may diverge in any 
of the different annunciations of them from perfect 
accuracy, is yet sufficient, for any of the practical 
purposes to which there has been yet occasion to 
apply them. After this, the only thing arbitrary in 
the tables following, is the assumption that the tem¬ 
perature and other circumstances are appropriate for 
the various elements to exercise their natural affini¬ 
ties. I shall have occasion to point out, in the course 
of this chapter, certain cases, wherein, from a defect 
in those circumstances, the resulting affinities are not 
uniform with what might be anticipated from calcu¬ 
lation. But these irregularities do not affect the 
principle of the present considerations. 

On page 108, of this Report, is given an Ore (the 
first on the list), whose analysis and elementary con¬ 
stitution may be exhibited as follows : 2 


ANALYSIS. 


ELEMENTARY 

CONSTITUENTS. 

Protoxide of Iron: 

. 45. 

Iron: 

35. + Ox. 

10. 

Silica:. 

. 15. 

Silicon: 

7.5 + 0. 

7.5 

Alumina: .... 

. 9. 

Aluminium 

: 5. +0. 

4. 

Lime.. 

. 1. 

Calcium: 

.7 + 0. 

0.3 

Carbonic acid: . . 

. 27.5 

Carbon: 

7.5 0. 

20. 



f Carbon: 

1.8 


Coaly matter, etc.: 

. 2.5 

Hydrogen: 

.2+0. 

0.3 



f Nitrogen: 

.2 



100. = 57.9 + 42.1 


5 I have used, throughout this chapter, the system of atomic equivalents in 
which hydrogen is taken as unity; and as far as possible have employed 










188 


The immediate analysis of the Coal, which was 
used with this ore, is found on page 150, (Table III. 


No. 4); mediately it may be assumed : 


Carbon: . 

. . . 76.90 


Oxygen: 

. . . 11.53 


Nitrogen: 

. . . 5.51 


Hydrogen: 

. . . 3.71 


' Silica: 

• • • X • 

Ashes:« 

Alumina: 

. . . .58 

Lime: . . 



^ Iron : . . 

... .42 


100 . 


It will not be necessary to exhibit the details of 
its elementary constitution; which will come in pre¬ 
sently in the table, and which I have given for the 
ore only to shew the process of reduction. 

The proximate constitution of the limestone, used 
for the Flux, is:— 


Carbonic acid: . . 

. 34.7 

Lime:. 

. 46.4 

Silica: .... 

. 8.2 

Alumina: . . . 

. 8.1 

Protoxide of Iron: . 

.4 

Water, etc.: . . . 

. 2.2 


100 . 


whole numbers for the equivalents of the different elements. This, which in 
most cases is probably as near the truth as any other, both facilitates calcula¬ 
tion and serves equally the illustration (all that I have aimed after) of the 
theory. So, for the same reasons, I have not carried the elementary propor¬ 
tions farther than the nearest tenth. 















189 


Also, the ordinary constitution of uncondensed 
Air may be taken to represent the elements fur¬ 
nished by the blast; (abstraction being made of the 
carbonic acid and the vapor of water); as follows: 

Oxygen: . . . 23. 

Nitrogen : 77 . 

100 . 

Such are the proportions of the substances; which 
have been introduced in the construction of the fol¬ 
lowing table of composition. The caption of the 
columns of materials; is intended to shew the relative 
weights of the substances simultaneously acted on. 

Table shewing the absolute elementary composition of the Materials 
employed in a Blast-furnace using Coal. 


ELEMENTS. 

ORE 

per 300 parts. 

COAL 

per 260 parts. 

FLUX 

per 100 parts. 

Atmospheric 

AIR 

per 2000 pts. 

TOTAL. 

Oxygen : . . 

126.3 

33. 

46.6 

460. 

665.9 

Hydrogen : . 

.6 

9.7 

.1 

• • • 

10.4 

Nitrogen : 

.6 

14.3 

.1 

1540. 

1555. 

Carbon : . . 

27.9 

200. 

11.2 


239.1 

Silicon : . . 

22.5 

1.3 

4.1 


27.9 

Calcium: . . 

2.1 

.6 

33.1 


35.8 

Aluminium : . 

15. 

.8 

4.5 


20.3 

Iron:. . . 

105. 

.3 

.3 


105.6 


300. 

260. 

100. 

2000. 

2660. 


The re-composition of these elements; as stated in 
the column of totals; is exhibited in another table; 
derived from the constitution of the resulting pro¬ 
ducts. 

To construct this table; we may take the composi- 


























190 


tion of the Iron, (regard being had only to its princi¬ 
pal and most important associate—carbon) as follows: 


Iron: . . . 97.75 
Carbon: . . 2.25 


100 . 

The actual yield of metal, as furnished by the 
accounts of the establishment, for a certain period, 
was 34 per cent, of the ore consumed. 

For the Cinder may be given these proportions, 
viz: 


Silica:.37.2 

Alumina:.22.7 

Lime:.36.4 

Protox. Iron: . . . . 3.7 


100 . 


neglecting, as has also been done in the analyses of 
the other cases, those ingredients which are fre¬ 
quently associated, but only in slight and varying 
proportions. 

As, in the practical operation of an Establishment, 
there are no ordinary means of ascertaining the 
quantity of Cinder made, for our present purpose it 
it obvious that some measure must be assumed. 
From general observation I should suppose, that in 
any given period, there is about four times as much 
cinder run out as iron, while the relative specific 
gravity of the latter, in the present case, is very 
nearly 2.6 : 1 of the former; so that in round num- 











191 


bers, there would have to be one-half more in 
weight of cinder than iron, produced in the same 
time. Therefore in the caption to the proper column 
of the following table of re-composition, I have given 
the absolute quantity of Cinder 150 parts by weight, 
to every 102 parts of Iron. This also is supposed 
to harmonize, as to both products, with the captions 
of the preceding table. 


Table shewing the absolute elementary composition of the Products 
given from a Blast-furnace using Coal. 


ELEMENTS. 

IRON 

per 102 
parts. 

Furnace 

CINDER 

per 150 
parts. 

Steam. 

Carbo- 

nicAcid. 

GAS. 

Oxide of 
Carbon. 

Carbu- 

retted 

Hy¬ 

drogen 

Nitrogen. 

TOTAL. 

Oxygen: . 

• • • 

59.8 

235.5 

192.9 

247.7 

• • 

• • • 

735.9 

Hydrogen: 



29.4 

• • • 

• • • 

24.1 

• • • 

53.5 

Nitrogen: 

? 






1348.6 

1348.6 

Carbon: . 

2.3 



72. 

185.6 

72.2 

• • • 

332.1 

Silicon: . 

? 

• 

27.9 






27.9 

Calcium: . 

• • • 

39. 






39. 

Aluminium: 

? 

18.9 






18.9 

Iron : . . 

99.7 

4.4 






104.1 


102. 

150. 

264.9 

264.9 

433.3 

96.3 

1348.6 

2660. 


A comparison of this table with the preceding one 
will shew, more fully than any verbal explanation, 
the views of the Combination-theory I am desirous 
to expose. 

The coincidence of the iron in the two tables (the 
quantity produced being only 1| per cent, less than 
the total quantity supplied in any manner,—a dis¬ 
count, that may well arise from discrepancies between 




































192 


chemical analysis upon minute quantities and opera¬ 
tions in large) is very satisfactory; that of the cin¬ 
der , it is evident, depends upon the assumption of its 
volume being quadruple that of the metal produced. 
The different signs of the aluminium and calcium in 
the second table, one being too little, the other too 
much, proceed from causes that a more exact ana¬ 
lysis will, I expect, remove. The component parts 
of the gas , which occupy five columns of this table, 
I have established upon the mean of eleven analyses 
by M. Ebelmen, of the gaseous product of a furnace 
using charcoal, with a mixture of coke. The quan¬ 
tity of oxygen is somewhat too great, and that of 
nitrogen too small; but as the object of the table is 
exemplification mainly, I have not thought it neces¬ 
sary to make the alterations in proportions, which 
otherwise might be justified by the analogies and 
circumstances of the analyses themselves. In another 
part of this chapter, I shall have occasion to recur to 
the subject of these columns, and treat it in more 
detail. 

It is not to be doubted, that the managers of Iron 
establishments would find it much to their individual 
interest, as well as to the general advancement in the 
scale of public opinion of the important trade they 
support, in adopting a plan similar to what has been 
illustrated in these tables. I am far from asserting 
that the processes in the blast-furnace are of a nature 


193 


to allow, generally, the substitution of one chemical 
equivalent for another; or that equally good iron 
may be produced (by a certain arrangement and 
mixture of ores and fluxes) from all kinds of ore: 
but that much may be done in improving the quality 
of the metal from any given ore, by a due considera¬ 
tion and application of the principles I have pointed 
out, the result at one or two establishments in Great 
Britain abundantly shews. Nor is it, in fact, a neces¬ 
sary antecedent to the adoption of such methods that 
furnace-managers should become chemists; a degree 
of knowledge in that particular would be highly 
serviceable to them: but there are in America, and 
especially in Maryland, facilities for having thorough 
and extensive analyses made of the materials used 
at each establishment; while the tables I have given 
will serve to assist the determinations made from 
such analyses and may be used as patterns, to be 
improved and rendered more exact, for all analo¬ 
gous cases. The difference of effect between char¬ 
coal and coke, or coal, as a combustible, (although 
apparent in the constitution of the cinder) is not 
enough to present any difficulty in the way of calcu¬ 
lating the affinities of the former, in the same manner 
as has been done for the latter. 

Some metallurgists have endeavoured to deter¬ 
mine the proportions of foreign and earthy sub¬ 
stances, which are admissible in the constitution of 
25 


194 


the ores, to be profitably worked ; but no certain rule 
can be considered as established on this point. The 
following particulars, however, appear justified by 
the present state of our knowledge in this regard. 

1°. Earths or ores, not containing more than 22 
per cent, of iron, are hardly, if at all, worth working 
by themselves; not because the iron cannot be sepa¬ 
rated from its combinations, but because such sepa¬ 
ration will be attended with disproportionate cost. 
But if the other associates are in suitable proportions, 
such ores become exceedingly valuable as fluxes: so, 
at an establishment in France (having before satis¬ 
fied themselves as to the suitability of its proportions) 
they fuse a brown hcematite solely by the addition of 
a poor carbonate of iron. 3 

2°. Lime, alumina, silica and magnesia, earths fre¬ 
quently found in combination with iron-ores, may be 
considered as by themselves infusible. It is their 
union only, which allows of their being melted even 
at a high temperature. 

3°. Even in this union, silica appears a necessary 
adjunct to effect fusion; as neither lime and alumina, 
alumina and magnesia, nor magnesia and lime are 
per se fusible. 

4°. Although silica facilitates the fusion of any 
one of the other elements when mixed with it, and 
of the four mentioned, is only one that can be used 
alone , for the reduction of the oxides of iron,—its 
tendency is much increased, by uniting it with more 


3 Berthier: Voie-Seche: tom. ii. p. 281. 


195 


than one. The mixture in suitable proportions of all 
the elements mentioned, (which makes a quaternary 
compound) is much more fusible than a mixture of 
any three of them; so, a ternary compound is more 
fusible than a binary one. An excess of silica, how¬ 
ever, by combining with the carbon or with the iron 
or with both, produces white iron ; and by rendering 
the cinder more refractory, is very apt to derange the 
furnace. 

5°. Oxide of manganese also, often found in com¬ 
bination with ores of iron, is, when not in too large 
quantities, a valuable agent in promoting the fusion 
of any or all of these earths. When so found, it has 
sometimes rendered unnecessary the addition of any 
foreign flux. Its excess is accompanied by its being 
reduced along with the iron. 

6°. Although in the ores generally used in Great 
Britain, and those in several places in Maryland, lime 
is a very suitable flux, it is not to be supposed that 
it is essential in every other case, or even in these. 4 
In the instance alluded to in the last paragraph, the 
foreign flux dispensed with was lime. 

4 Karsten: Eisen-Metallurg. t. i. § 455, tran’d by CulmannMetz, 1830. 
The application of lime as a flux to the iron-ores of coal-regions, has been 
shewn by M. Berthier (Ann. de Chimie et Phys. xxxiii. p. 154) to answer the 
purpose of taking up, when in excess, a portion of the sulphur, which is almost 
always found in those iron-ores. If the lime be however combined with silica 
in atomic proportions, its action is much weakened, or neutralized. 

The limit to the application of lime in excess, is in the infusibility of the 
cinder after a certain point; which is on the one hand equal quantities of 
oxygen in the two bases, and on the other, four times as much oxygen in the 
silica as in the lime. 


196 


7°. When an addition of silica is required, it is 
effected to advantage by the use of matters, which 
with it contain also a portion of iron. It is thus that 
amphibole, basalt, and garnet have been applied. 5 
This is in fact the use of a poor material, instead of 
one utterly sterile. 

8°. In fine, M. Berthier 6 has concluded, from 
numerous experiments on a small scale, that of the 
whole solid materials introduced into the furnace 
(the iron excepted) the silica should bear a propor- 


tion of not less than 

45 

per #, nor more 

than 60 

per § 

Lime should be from . . 

20 

“ to 

35 

u 

• 

CO 

CD 

^ Alumina may be from 

12 

“ to 

15 

u 

CO 

o3 

PQ J 

Magnesia, .... 

12 

“ to 

25 

u 

o 

Oxide of Manganese, 

15 

“ to 

20 

tc 

o 

v. Oxide of Titanium, 

15 

“ to 

20 

(C 


But these numbers cannot be considered as uni¬ 
versally applicable; inasmuch as I have myself ob¬ 
served a case, where the furnace w T as making excel¬ 
lent iron, and when the proportion of foreign matters 
was as follows: 

Silica: ... 39. 

Lime: ... 35. 

Alumina: . . 26. 

100 . 

The other bases were in such small proportions, 
as not to be noted. 

5 M. Walter Saint-Ange: Metallurgie de Fer. p. 9. 

6 Voie-Seche: tom. ii. p. 339. 






197 


Sec. 2. Furnace-cinder; its Constitution and Phenomena. 

It will illustrate what has been already said, to 
present here the results of some analyses of furnace- 
cinder. 


Analysis of Furnace Cinder. 



CHARCOAL. 

COKE. 

FERROXIDES. 

CARBONATES. 

CARBONATES. 


Mean. 

Torg¬ 

elow. 

Ta- 

berg. 

Pin- 

sot. 

S. He¬ 
lene. 

Ham. 

Ham. 

Dud¬ 

ley. 

Dowlais. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

Silica: .... 

51.84 

63.6 

31.1 

52. 

71. 

37.8 

49.6 

40.6 

43.2 

35.4 

Lime i • • • . « 

21.80 

24. 

14.1 

30.2 

7.2 

# , 

• • 

32.2 

35.2 

38.4 

Magnesia: . . . 

4.82 

1.2 

34.2 

5.2 

5.2 

8.6 

15.2 

, , 

4. 

1.5 

Alumina: . . . 

15.21 

3.8 

8.9 

5. 

2.5 

2.1 

9. 

16.8 

12. 

16.2 

Protoxide of iron: . 

3.73 

1.7 

1. 

1.6 

5. 

21.5 

.4 

10.4 

4.2 

1.2 

Do. of manganese: 

1.16 

3.9 

4.4 

4.7 

6.5 

29.2 

25.8 

• • 

• • 

2.6 

Oxide of titanium: 



9. 








Sulphur: .... 




trace 

• • 

trace 

.1 

• • 

• • 

1.4 

Phosphoric acid: . 

• • 

trace 










98.56 

98.2 

102.7 

98.7 

97.4 

99.2 

100.1 

100. 

98.6 

96.7 


The numbers given in the first column of this 
table, represent the mean of ten analyses made by 
M. Berthier; nearly all the specimens for which, 
were procured at a time when the furnaces were 
working well. This column may therefore be taken 
as exhibiting the average constitution of good cinder, 
and consequently assists in determining the propor¬ 
tions of the earthy fluxes, which are to be supplied 
to a furnace. 

No. 2 is from Torgelow in Pomerania; where the 
mine is much phosphated. The color is bluish- 
white ; the texture rather of enamel than of glass. 
Its specific gravity was 2.62. 















































198 


No one has yet suitably investigated the condi¬ 
tions; under which phosphoric acid exists in the 
high-furnace. M. Karsten is of opinion that it is all 
converted^ becomes a phosphuret, and combines with 
the crude iron produced: but M. Berthier has sig¬ 
nalized its presence^ unconverted; in the cinder in 
this case. 

No. 3; from the furnace of Ekersholm; at Taberg 
in Smoland; is remarkable for the large proportion 
of oxide of titanium contained in it. It is much 
tumefied; of a grey colour inside; more yellowish on 
the surface; and is not very fusible. The propor¬ 
tions both of limestone and silex might be increased 
to advantage. 

No. 4; from the furnace of Pinsot (Isere); of a 
clear olive green colour and crystalline arrangement; 
is given because of its regularity of chemical consti¬ 
tution. 

Nos. 5 and 6; the first from Savoy; the next from 
the County of La Mark; are given to shew how 
extremes in either way are indicative of the bad 
train of the furnace; which was the case when the 
specimens were furnished. 

No. 7; from the same establishment with No. 6— 
only when the furnace was working well. The dif¬ 
ference in the proportions of the protoxide of iron 
in the two instances; is very remarkable. This fur¬ 
nace is the one alluded to in the last section; where 
mention was made of no foreign flux being used; 


199 


and of the oxide of manganese, which exists in large 
quantity in their brown hematite, supplying the place 
entirely of lime. 

No. 8 is from a well-going furnace near Dudley 
in Staffordshire, and was obtained by M. Dufrenoy. 7 

Nos. 9 and 10 were collected by the same philoso¬ 
pher, from the Dowlais Works in South Wales; the 
first (the furnace being in good train,) was compact, 
of a light grey colour, with glassy streaks of a deep 
bottle green, somewhat cavernous, and having the 
cavities lined with crystals. Its composition much 
resembles that of a specimen of idocrase 8 analysed 
by Klaproth. The other was when the furnace was 
in bad order, black, easily attacked by acids, with 
disengagement of sulphuretted hydrogen. 

An inspection of the table will shew the diffe¬ 
rence before mentioned, between charcoal and coke 
cinder. In the former, the proportion of oxygen in 
the silica is nearly twice as great as in all the other 
bases:—in the latter, it hardly equals the quantity 
contained in the other bases. The compounds in 
the first, may therefore be considered as bi-silicates 
in the other, simple silicates. Comparing this view 
of their constitution with the degrees of fusibility in 
the different states of saturation, and with the much 
greater heat generated in a coke than in a charcoal 
furnace, we may account for the difference—the sili- 


7 Voyage Metallurgique: tom i. p. 340; Paris, 1837. 

8 Beudant: Mineralogie: tom. ii. p. 67; Paris, 1832. 


200 


cates , generally speaking, being less fusible than the 
bi-silicates —and these again more fusible than the 
ter-silicates. In regard to this, M. Karsten’s remark 
is judicious; that ‘in the reduction of iron-ores we 
should endeavour to form silicates fusible at the tem¬ 
perature employed; so that the fusion shall not be 
determined by too great a degree of heat, or by the 
vitrification of the protoxide of iron, which would be 
accompanied with considerable loss. 5 

The use of the cinder appears to be principally in 
four ways: 

1°. As the ores are always associated with a 
greater or less amount of one or more of the infu¬ 
sible earthy matters which have been mentioned 
above, it would be impossible, in the greater number 
of cases, to separate the impurities from the iron 
otherwise than by fusion; or to fuse the material 
otherwise than by presenting to it fusible compounds 
in suitable proportions. 

2°. The cinder in fusion, embracing and enve¬ 
loping the iron, assists also in its reduction; first, by 
a greater communication of heat from a fluid surface, 
and secondly, by offering (as all solutions do) greater 
room for different affinities to act. It may be pre¬ 
sumed, that this arises from the ultimate atoms being 
presented in a state of greater separation and dis¬ 
tinctness. 

3°. Some very fusible ores, such as the crystalline 


201 


or sparry carbonates, are apt to be melted , before the 
metallic compound is separated and reduced. The 
iron in such case, is mixed throughout the slag; and 
a proper addition of a refractory base is necessary to 
retard the fusion, until the deoxidation of the metal 
takes place: at which time, its gravity being much 
increased, it is allowed to settle at the bottom of the 
liquid mass. 

4°. During the separation, which generally begins 
to take place just below the boshes, the metallic 
iron, in descending to the hearth, has to pass by the 
tuyeres; through which, a large supply of atmos¬ 
pheric air is continually entering. The province of 
the cinder here, is to preserve the metal from contact 
with the air; by which it would be oxidated, and, 
if even it continued in fusion, would be materially 
deteriorated. 

Hence the degi'ee of fusibility of the cinder, is a 
point of much importance. If it be too thick and 
pasty, there will be difficulty in the iron making its 
way through: if it be too thin and liquid, there is 
danger of the metal leaving it too soon and being 
thus exposed to the current of air through the 
tuyeres, or (if the liquidity be in a less degree) 
losing a portion of its carbon, and becoming more in 
the nature of steel. It is by an analogous process 
(though the shape of the furnace is very different) 
that some ores are made to yield malleable iron at 
once; as in the Catalan and Navarrese methods. 

26 


202 


This subject^ the fusibility of different alkaline; 
earthy; and metallic silicates;—which is one of much 
moment to the intelligent metallurgist; would draw 
me away too far from the main object of this Report; 
were it to be discussed at the length it deserves. I 
can therefore only give the order of fusibility of silica 
combined with several substances most usually met 
with; at the same time repeating the remark before 
made; that in proportion as the bases combined are 
more in number; the fusibility increases; so that two 
infusible silicates per se, may become fusible when 
presented together. As to this property according 
the different degrees of saturation of the silica with 
oxygen, it does not appear that a rule can be given 
applicable to all substances. For their simple com¬ 
binations; they are arranged in their proper order, 
as follows: 

Soda. 

Potassa. 

Manganese. 

Lime. 

Magnesia. 

Alumina:—infusible per $e. 

The substances of this table, if taken two by two, 
or three by three, will generally in fusibility ante- 
cede the first named: thus a silicate of soda and 
potassa is more fusible than even a silicate of soda;— 
and a silicate of lime, magnesia, and alumina, comes 
in after manganese, although silica and lime are of 
very difficult and limited fusion together, and silica 
and alumina absolutely infusible. 


203 


Connected with the fusibility of the materials 
forming the cinder, in the furnace, is its consistency 
at the time of its flow, and its subsequent changes in 
this particular. A liquid cinder can only be pro¬ 
duced by a considerable heat and fusible materials: 
but notice must be taken of its tendency to cool, 
before its indications can be taken as satisfactory. A 
rapidly cooling cinder shews the presence of metallic 
associations; and if its color be at the same time 
brown or black, it may be presumed that there is a 
notable proportion of iron, which has not been fully 
separated. In such case, therefore, the charges of 
mine should be diminished. A clear-colored cin¬ 
der, liquid enough to flow over the dam-plate, and 
but slowly cooling, is generally desirable, as indi¬ 
cating good materials and a 'suitable temperature. 

On the other hand, a thick pasty cinder, flowing 
with difficulty, argues the presence of infusible mate¬ 
rials and a deficiency of heat. I have nevertheless 
seen a case of this kind, where the latter cause could 
not be supposed operative; and the derangement 
was attributed to too high a temperature. The 
cooling was slow, proving the absence of metallic 
mixtures; and the remedy was to increase the 
charge of mine. M. Karsten noticed a similar oc- 
currence; though he does not mention the remedy. 

In coke furnaces, a satisfactory indication is found 
in a cinder, liquid enough to flow slowly, but uni¬ 
formly—cooling only after some exposure to the 


204 


air—and allowing itself, after the lapse of several 
minutes, to be drawn out into threads or twisted into 
various shapes, which it preserves against any thing 
but rough treatment. If the experiment of drawing 
and twisting be tried before it has cooled to a cer¬ 
tain extent, the threads are apt to break sponta¬ 
neously by irregular contraction. 

The color of the cinder , and its other physical 
characters, offer generally, with the same furnace and 
the same materials, a test by which (in connexion 
with the character of the iron produced) the obser¬ 
vant founder may, to a certain extent, judge of the 
processes which are producing it, and regulate his 
proportions and working accordingly. But there 
does not appear to be any general rule applicable to 
all cases, or any universal theory, which may serve 
as a standard for such a rule. An association of 
other metallic substances in the ores of iron, may 
affect, in an almost opposite amount, the color of 
the cinder produced; and in such an association, 
different effects upon the same characteristic, will be 
observed in coke and charcoal furnaces. Thus, in a 
coke furnace, an admixture of lead in the mine gives 
a yellow tinge to the cinder: 9 with the same admix¬ 
ture in a charcoal furnace, the cinder is a light grey. 

In well-going coke furnaces, I have found the 
cinder chiefly of a whitish grey in the mass—with 


v Karsten: Eisen-Metallurg: tom. ii. p, 240. 


205 


shades of blue on the outside, and streaks of blue, 
blueish green, and green, within. These varieties 
in color may be supposed principally dependant 
upon the reduction of minute portions of the metal¬ 
lic oxides, as manganese and iron; and upon the 
presence of a small quantity of phosphoric acid. It 
is only when the color has approached a brown , and 
through the intermediate shades to black , that there 
is reason to suppose a notable proportion of iron in 
the cinder; and the first remedy should be the 
diminution of the charge of mine. But to judge 
satisfactorily of the color, the cinder must be pul¬ 
verized. 

With the same materials, the greater opacity or 
translucency of the cinder, appears to depend on the 
combustible : with coke it is more opaque, with char¬ 
coal more translucent. 

Among other physical characteristics, the cinder 
may be classed under the heads of glassy , lithoid or 
stone-like, earthy , and enamelled . 

The first indicates a greater fusibility of materials; 
and is generally found in furnaces which use char¬ 
coal, as the second is with those that employ coke. 
With the proper color and opacity, these are good 
indications for the respective combustibles. The 
earthy aspect of the cinder arises, I believe, mainly 
from a deficiency of heat; and not from a derange¬ 
ment of the furnace. Some of the lounders in Wales 


206 


determine the application of the corrective for this, 
by the appearance of the iron which they are making. 
If it be well crystallized or granulated, they increase 
the quantity of air without apprehension; but if the 
iron be white and lamellar, the increase is made with 
caution. I am not prepared to say, that this is based 
upon any rigorous theory; for I have not found it 
universally the case. But I shall speak of this far¬ 
ther hereafter. A cavernous or honey-combed tex¬ 
ture is a frequent accompaniment of this sort of cin¬ 
der; and it may be supposed to proceed from a 
greater degree of the same cause, as well as from 
a less complete separation of the materials. The 
charges are generally, in this case, changed. 

A cinder like enamel , is takep to indicate a defi¬ 
ciency of heat; but this aspect is not well recognized 
among the practical founders. Theoretically, it seems 
to prove both imperfect fusion and reduction. 10 

I have not thought it necessary to make a class 
of the cinder, containing (with a honey-combed or 
pumice-like texture,) small masses of earthy matters 
from the flux or the sides of the furnace, fragments 
of charcoal, or metallic grains. These occurrences 
prove, without controversy, a deranged state of 
working. 

Such are the particularities and classification of 
the Cinder. 

10 M. Bertnier attributes this characteristic, in part, to the presence of phos¬ 
phate of lime. Voie-Seche: tom. ii. p. 341, 


207 


Sec. 3. Characteristics and Constitution of the Metal produced , 

under various circumstances. 

The other solid product of the Blast-furnace, is 
the metallic iron; to which the name of crude iron 
is with propriety applied. This consists principally 
of the elementary metal; associated chemically and 
mechanically with several of the other substances 
which have been introduced into the furnace, and 
which constitute, according to their amount and state 
of combination, greater or less degrees of impurity. 
So, the crude iron may be found to contain carbon, 
silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, chromium, tita¬ 
nium, magnesium, aluminium and manganese—in 
very minute proportions; the first named of which, 
as it is found in greatest quantity, seems, too, in the 
present state of our knowledge, to exert the greatest 
influence over the product with which it is asso¬ 
ciated. Indeed, the nomenclature and classification 
of the crude iron is, up to this time, mainly regu¬ 
lated by the respective proportions of carbon mixed 
in it. At one time, it was supposed that oxygen was 
also a component part; but this, which remained as 
a fragment of the phlogistic theory, has not been 
recognized in the later researches of the most accu¬ 
rate chemists. 

It still is to be regretted that these researches 
have not been carried to a sufficient extent, to fur¬ 
nish us with any complete and accurate theory of the 



208 


differences, readily discernible in specimens of diffe¬ 
rent or of the same stages of manufacture; such as 
promised shortly to arise, when, in the latter part 
of the last century, the subject was illustrated by 
the philosophical labours of Monge, Vandermonde, 
and Berthollet. 11 But their conclusions, although 
to a considerable extent founded upon ideas which 
were technically appropriate , still did not embrace or 
account for several phenomena of manifest occur¬ 
rence, and besides proceeded upon the admission 
(as in the case of oxygen just now mentioned) of 
some erroneous remains of the former notions; and 
it was reserved for Karsten, about the year 1816, to 
give a new impulse to the science of the Iron-manu¬ 
facture, by the annunciation of certain observations 
which he had an opportunity of making, connecting, 
and to a great extent satisfactorily explaining, from 
the processes of the furnaces of Silesia, that were 
under his management. So, he was among the first 
metallurgists to show that the graphite (or kish) 
accompanying gray foundry iron, was carbon only,— 
occurring it is true among impurities, but not, as had 
been supposed, a carburet of iron; and following out 
the views which rested on this fact, he proceeded to 
explain and to confirm by analysis, the differences 
observable between the so-called ichite crude iron 
and grey crude iron, and thus to lay the foundation 
of appropriateness for subsequent additions or modi- 


11 Hist, de l’Academie des Sciences: 1786. 


209 


fications to his system. But it is not detracting from 
the well-earned reputation of this most practically 
learned man, to say that a good deal yet remains to 
be done to bring together some still not perfectly 
coherent parts of his theory, and by new and careful 
analyses to explore the operations and influences of 
agencies, which, in his published work at least, he 
does not seem to have taken in account. He, for 
instance, rather repudiates the doctrine of definite 
proportions, as it has been attempted to be deve¬ 
loped in the first section of this chapter; and with¬ 
out adopting which, the science of metallurgy must 
continue to be retarded by the same causes, that 
had been operative for twenty years before the ap¬ 
pearance of his first edition. Also, neither he nor 
any one since has yet examined with sufficient pains 
the electro-magnetic phenomena of Aggregation, 
Crystallization, and Aspect, which belong to the 
union, at certain temperatures, of iron with the 
various substances that may connect themselves with 
the metal during the process of reduction. In most 
other regards, his treatise may justly be considered 
as sustaining the base of the actual Theory of the 
Manufacture of Iron. 

My present business being not to furnish a treatise 
on iron-making, but only to indicate, by way of Re¬ 
port, such observations as seemed to me principally 
worthy of being noticed by those who were con¬ 
cerned in the manufacture, I have hitherto studiously 
27 


210 


abstained from long details: and its length already> 
exceeding and almost frustrating my intentions, warns 
me still more to study an intelligent brevity. I shall 
therefore not offer here any expositions of some yet 
incomplete inquiries and researches, upon the inte¬ 
resting topics which I have just now indicated; and 
shall only mention them again, when they come in 
connection with other and better established points, 
to which we shall find occasion to advert. 

It is admitted that there is no part of the iron 
manufacture, upon which there is a greater want of 
consent, than in the classification and nomenclature 
of the different qualities of crude iron, produced in 
different establishments. Almost every furnace- 
manager has his own ideas, which, not referable to 
any generally established standard, are productive of 
this ill effect,—that they do not allow the observa¬ 
tions and experiments, made with a view of its prac¬ 
tical application to other purposes, to come under a 
strict analogy or unity. Hence, as one reason, we 
have as yet no uniform statement of its qualities in 
a very important particular, I mean its elasticity and 
resistance; points of great moment in its appliance 
to architecture of various kinds. But this can only 
be remedied in the extension of an accurate and 
general theory. 

Under the names of grey, mottled , bright , and 
ivhite iron, the. founders generally include a wide. 


i 


211 


fange of qualities for merchantable crude iron; but 
the distinctions are still farther removed from exact¬ 
ness, when, as is the case in several establishments 
in Great Britain, these classes are farther subdivided 
into No. 1, No. 2, etc. Some Works, professing 
(and it may be attaining) great uniformity in the 
main aspect of their metal, use only the latter men¬ 
tioned terms of division. It is obvious that in this 
case the entire classification becomes of a local 
character. 

It is probable that the characteristic differences may 
be all comprehended in two classes, grey and white; 
and that the other varieties observable, are dependant 
upon a mixture of these two qualities in the same 
specimen, or, what is the same thing, upon the alter¬ 
nate or irregular occurrence, during reduction, of the 
causes which would separately have produced grey 
and white iron respectively. I shall enumerate here 
some of the most important differences between these 
two kinds of iron. 

Their color is a manifest distinction; from which 
indeed they derive their respective names. The first 
or grey iron, is of a grey color, more or less dark 
according to the texture, which is always crystalline 
and reflecting a brilliant light from the facets of 
which the surface is made up. These crystals, as 
seen under a microscope, belong to the Octahedral 
system; and present themselves under the primary 
forms of several of its classes. Their minuteness 


212 


renders their examination sufficiently tedious, and 
accurate conclusions concerning them slowly to be 
arrived at—their maximum limit being, when cubic, 
not above 15 J 0 o of an inch in linear dimension, and 
about 200,000,000 of a grain in weight. How far these 
are isomorphous with the ultimate molecules of the 
metal itself, remains to be determined. 

The other ,—white iron, is of a silvery white color, 
in general resembling the factitious metal called 
Argentan or German silver, and also affected by 
the texture. This, which to the naked eye appears 
lamellar, is in fact not less crystalline than in grey 
iron; only the crystals here are smaller, and seem to 
belong to the Rhombohedral system. They most 
frequently occur in six-sided, prisms, sometimes con¬ 
nected in fascicles by their sides, at others by their 
ends, in a sort of stellated or radiating arrangement. 
The white color of the mass seems to be mainly 
arising from these arrangements of particles; as in 
the other kind, the grey hue is probably produced 
by the position and interference of the crystalline 
angles and facets. This is the more probable, since 
when under particular circumstances (which will be 
hereafter spoken of) white crude iron is converted 
into grey, and vice versa, the color to a considera¬ 
ble extent is altered. It is not entirely changed in 
every case; and thus gives rise to a sub-division, 
which is known by the name of granular white 
iron . This has the same argentane color: but its 


213 


texture is an assemblage (like as in steel) of very 
minute Right Prismatic crystals, whose position pro¬ 
duces on the light about the same effect with the 
laminae of the type. A similar change produces 
similar phenomena, in the sudden conversion of grey 
crude iron into white iron. 

The specific gravity of white iron is greater than 
that of grey. A specimen of white iron from Alais 
gave Dr. Schafhautl a gravity of 7.582, that of water 
being 1.; while the highest that I know of for grey 
iron, is 7.300. This may be accounted for, in part, 
by the more compact aggregation of particles in the 
case of the former. 

White iron is also harder than grey; and pieces 
are sometimes met, which cannot be scratched with 
the file. Grey crude iron is sometimes malleable to 
a very small extent; but the lamellar white iron, not 
at all. The granular white iron before spoken of, 
and which resembles very much the product called 
natural steel, has sometimes considerable malleability. 

As to extension by weight or pressure, the pheno¬ 
mena respectively resemble those produced under 
the hammer. Grey cast iron is lengthened, before 
breaking, 7 J 0 of its length, under a strain of 38,000 
pounds per square inch: but white iron, hardly at 
all. So when the weight is applied transversely, 
grey iron will shew a deflection, from the level of 
supports three feet apart, as great as 0.84 inch, be¬ 
fore breaking; white iron breaks as soon as it bends. 
It is therefore more brittle. It is also more stiff. 


214 


But, as might be expected, its cohesive force is 
less. That of grey iron, has been variously stated: 
by Rennie 12 at 19,072 pounds per square inch of sec¬ 
tion ; by Brown 13 at 16,262 pounds per square inch, 
(these are the only direct observations;) by Tred- 
gold, 14 on inference from transverse strains, at 44,620 
pounds; and by Fairbairn and Hodgkinson 15 (the 
mean) 36,570 pounds per square inch. Nearly all 
the specimens in these cases, were of the second 
fusion. The continental observers are not much 
more accordant: but I do not include any of their 
results, because there is always a question of the 
relative weights and measures employed; otherwise 
in any special examination of the subject, they are 
entitled to at least equal consideration. In some 
experiments made by myself, the cohesive force of 
white iron, as deduced from the transverse strain, 
was found to be 34,830 pounds per square inch. 
The two classes, therefore, may be assumed as hav¬ 
ing a ratio of 35 : 40, in respective Cohesion. 

In the force to resist crushing , however, white 
iron appears superior to grey. This kind of resis¬ 
tance, which may be called relative cohesion, in con¬ 
tradistinction to absolute cohesion (or resistance to a 
force tending to pull the material asunder) can only 
be considered reciprocal with the latter, when the 

» Phil. Trans. 1818. 

13 Barslow: Strength of Materials: p. 205. Ed. 1837. ; 

14 Essay on Cast Iron ; 2nd Ed. p. 84, seqq. 

15 Mech. Mag. May, 1839. 


215 


force applied is not great enough to produce perma¬ 
nent alteration. It is with this reservation,, that the 
postulates and calculations of Mr. Tredgold are to 
be taken. 

The experiments of Mr. George Rennie upon this 
subject, being made upon iron of the second fusion, 
are not applicable to our present purpose. I will 
only observe, that Mr. Tredgold deduces from the 
experiments the crushing weight of 93,000 pounds 
per square inch—my own calculations have furnished 
me the mean of 106,300 pounds. 

M. Karsten has, however, experimented exten¬ 
sively upon this point, and with the same special 
view. Some of his results I present here. The 
quantities are the mean of several specimens. 



GREY-IRON. 

WHITE-IRON. 

Position 
When cast. 

CRUSHING WEIGHT 

Position 
when cast. 

CRUSHING WEIGHT 

Pr. sq. 
Millimet 

Pr. sq. 
inch Eng. 

Pr. sq. 
Millimet 

Pr. sq. 
inch Eng. 




kil. 

lb. 



kil. 

lb. 

First fusion : . . . 

Hor’l 

• • 

100.33 

142327.6 

Hor’l 

• • 

137.49 

195530. 

« <( 


Vert 

103.38 

147020. 


Vert 

150.31 

213761. 

2d do. Cupola: . . 

do. 

• • 

99.02 

140819.8 





(C 

• • • 

• • 

do. 

97.76 

139028. 


do. 

124.49 

177045.6 

2d do Keverb’y Fur: 

do. 

• • 

118.03 

167854.6 





« « 

• • 

do. 

123.69 

175439. 


do. 

179.89 

255828. 


Hence, white iron is more suitable for pedestals, 
short columns, and such objects as are required to 
bear great weights, in a uniformly perpendicular 
sense. A proportionate effect also, in different 
methods of treatment, appears to be indicated by 
these experiments. The difference between hori¬ 
zontal and vertical casting, was signalized too by 





























216 


Mr. Rennie, during his experiments just now quoted 
upon absolute cohesion. 

As to the adhesion (i. e. the measure of the force 
necessary to separate a solid and a liquid surface in 
contact) of iron, I know of no experiments since 
those of M. Guyton-Morveau; which placed iron in 
the ninth rank, and in which a weight of 115 
French grains (friction excluded) were required to 
overcome the adhesion of a circular inch of this metal 
to a surface of mercury. Gold , under the same cir¬ 
cumstances, required 446 grains. This subject ap¬ 
pears worthy of consideration, in connection with the 
crystalline forms of crude iron. 

In capacity for heat , white iron appears inferior to 
grey; it is therefore fusible at a lower temperature. 
But grey iron becomes more fluid, at the same tem¬ 
perature above its proper point of fusion; and takes 
longer time in cooling. Accordingly it is recognized 
as the most suitable for fine castings; because it fills 
more thoroughly all the small cavities of the mould, 
and is longer subject to the hydrostatic pressure in 
pouring. The precise points of fusion, however, 
have not been ascertained. 16 

18 The fusion of cast iron has been usually stated at 130° of Wedgwood’s 
pyrometer, equivalent in the assumed scale to 17977° Fahr. But the uncer¬ 
tainty of the indications by this method are well known. 

M. Clement-Desormes inferred, from comparison with the liquefaction 
of ice, the melting point of cast-iron to be 3164° Fahr. Mr. Daniell, in expe¬ 
riments with his black-lead Register-pyrometer, found the same point at 3479° 
Fahr.; but subsequently stated it as more probably about 2786° Fahr.—PAt7. 
Trans . 1830, pp. 260, 261. 1831, p. 452. 


217 


The mass of both kinds occupies less space in 
fusion than when jet solid at high temperatures. 17 
Hence an allowance (generally one-eighth of an inch 
per foot) has to be made in the dimensions of the 
patterns, from which objects are required to be 
moulded and cast. But the dilatation in becoming 
solid, is less with white iron than with grey. In the 
former, it rarely reaches i in linear measure; in the 
latter, it is sometimes <J 8 in each of the three dimen¬ 
sions. Analogous differences hold good in the bar- 
iron, manufactured from the different kinds respec¬ 
tively;—a circumstance, which does not appear to 
have been yet taken into account in the experiments 
on the expansion of this metal by heat. 

Such are the principal physical characteristics of 
these two kinds of crude iron. 

Their chemical differences are much less easily 
detected; some of the elements (as for instance, the 
altered carbon in white cast iron) being very difficult 
of precise separation. 

Nor have chemists, until comparatively of late 
times, applied themselves to the analysis of this sub- 


17 This anomaly (for the general law of heat is to expand proportionately 
all bodies in which it is introduced) seems to be owing to the crystallization of 
the particles, upon the cooling of the mass. The same effect is observable in 
water; which occupies more space at 32° F. (when crystals commence to 
be formed) than at a higher temperature of 394° F. Some other substances, 
likewise thermo-crystalline, exhibit the same phenomena; such are sulphur, 
antimony, zinc, and bismuth. 

28 


218 


stance, the extent and value of whose practical use 
do not, fortunately, depend upon an exact acquain¬ 
tance with its chemical constitution. 

I shall present here some analyses of crude iron, 
from M. Berthier and M. Karsten; in which only 
the proportions of the impurities are given. 


Table shewing the elementary associations of different specimens of 
Crude iron; in parts per cent, of the Mass. 



White-Iron. 

Grey-Iron. 

charcoal. 

charcoal. 

COKE. 

Leke- 

berg. 

1 

S. 

Dizier 

2 

Tre¬ 

dion. 

3 

Lohe. 

4 

Hamm 

5 

Hamm 

6 

Tor- 

gelow. 

7 

Pertz 

8 

Char¬ 

leroi. 

9 

Staf¬ 

fords. 

10 

Carbon: . . 

3.9 

3.6 

3.6 

3.5 

5.1 

4.4 

2.6 

1.9 

2.3 

2.2 

Silicon: . . 

0.5 

0.4 

0.5 

0.5 

0.6 

1.3 

0.4 

0.2 

3.5 

2.5 

Phosphorus: 



0.7 




3.1 

5.6 



Magnesium: 











Manganese : 

4.6 

• • 

• • 

5.2 

4.5 

7.4 

2.8 

0.9 

• • 

• • 


9.2 

4. 

4.8 

9.2 

10.2 

13.1 

8.9 

8.6 

5.8 

4.7 


The analysis of No. 1, from Lekeberslag in 
Sweden, is by Berzelius. He considers it to be 
inferred justly, from the exactitude and precautions 
of this experiment, that crude iron contains no 
oxygen . 

No. 3, from Tredion near Vannes, is very brittle; 
it can only be employed for ballast. 

No. 4, from Lohe in Siegen (duchy of the Rhine) 
is produced from a sparry carbonate, that also fur¬ 
nishes a natural steel of great reputation. Accord¬ 
ing to an analysis of M. Karsten another sample of 
this iron contained, 4.9 per £ of combined carbon, 
and only 0.2 per # of free carbon. 


V 












































219 


Nos. 5 and 6, from the furnace of Hamm, which 
has been already mentioned, are given to show a 
direct comparison between the white and grey iron 
of the same works and under the same circumstances. 
Of carbon , it is seen the former contains the most: 
but M. Berthier’s remark, 13 that ordinarily crude- 
iron containing manganese is white and lamel- 
lated, does not seem borne out by these analyses. 
M. Karsten 19 assures us, that grey iron produced 
from manganesian minerals, contains generally more 
manganese than white iron from the same mate¬ 
rials. 

The analyses of Nos. 7 and 8, are by Karsten;— 
the former from Torgelow in Pomerania before 
mentioned, the latter from the county of La Mark. 
Both are produced from bog-ores , and are cold¬ 
short. 

No. 9 is from Charleroi in Belgium, and bears the 
character of the best foundry-iron on the continent 
of Europe. 

No. 10 is from Staffordshire, and called by M. 
Dufrenoy, fonte noire . It is considered as belonging 
to the class of the best English foundry-iron. 

We may remark in both these last, the small 
quantity of carbon , which they contain; and M. 
Berthier has indicated a similar notice as to their 
proportion of silicon. I subjoin in a note some other 


18 Voie-Seche : tom. ii. pp. 272, 273. 

19 Metallurgie de Fer: tom. i. § 289. 


220 


remarks of the same authority, which may be read in 
connexion. 20 

The proportions of carbon in the means of the 
respective classes as detailed in the foregoing table, 
are for White-iron: . . 3.94 carbon per 100 

Grey-iron: . . 2.6S do. per 100, 

and appear to warrant the conclusion that white 
crude iron contains more carbon than grey. 

Even if we leave out of the summation for the mean 
the last 'two specimens, so as to compare products 
from charcoal only, we shall still have a proportion 
for Grey iron: . . 2.97 carbon per 100, 

which is below that for white iron; and if we omit 

entirely Nos. 1, 2, 9 and 10, so as to have pre¬ 
sented the greatest similarity of constitution, the 


50 ‘Coke-iron is not more charged with carbon, than charcoal-iron: but the 
former is rather characterized by the presence of silicium (or silicon). It 
seems, however, that as an excess of carbon destroys the properties sought for 
in steel, so an excess of silicium in coke-iron does away w r ith the tenacity 
which this substance, when in proper proportion, communicates to the metal. 
Under certain conditions, this excess of silicium may be removed by submit¬ 
ting the crude iron to a second fusion.’— Voie-Seche : tom. ii.p. 274. 

This chemist has not stated what should be considered an excess: otherwise 
it is well known that a quality (called by Dufrenoy No. 3 Foundry, but more 
generally designated as No. 2) which is supposed to contain more silicon than 
the fonte noire , is uniformly taken in cases where strength is required. The 
No. 1 of M. Dufrenoy, is tenacious in a comparatively low degree; but that 
arises from other circumstances than the presence of a greater or less amount 
of silicon. 

M. Karsten professes to have found 0.37 per $ of silicon, diminishing con¬ 
siderably the tenacity of crude iron. This does not agree with the usual 
opinion or practice.— Metall. de Fer: torn. i. § 250. 


221 


means of an equal number of the respective classes 
will be White-iron: . . 4.07 carbon per 100 
Grey-iron: . . 2.97 do. per 100. 

We may therefore safely assume that in average 
constitution, the proportions of carbon in the two 
classes, are as four to three , respectively. 

Again, it appears that carbon exists in white iron 
in a different state, from that which distinguishes it 
in grey iron. With the latter, there is always found 
more or less free carbon, in powder or a state 
resembling natural graphite . In the former, all the 
carbon is combined with the iron. 21 This appears 
from the analyses of M. Karsten, an abstract of which 
I give below. Their object was to ascertain the 
proportions of the altered or combined carbon, and of 
that graphitic substance, which (so far as its con¬ 
nexion with iron is concerned) may be considered 
as unaltered . 


Table shewing the conditions of combination of Carbon in some 
specimens of Crude iron, in parts per cent, of the Mass. 



GREY-IRON. 

WHITE. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

Combined carbon: . . . 

Free or unaltered carbon: 

0.89 

3.71 

1.03 

3.62 

0.75 

3.15 

0.58 

2.5? 

0.95 

2.70 

4.90 

0.20 

5.30 

• • • 

4.60 

4.65 

3.90 

3.15 

3.65 

5.10 

5.30 


21 This is of course to be understood, as applying only to the analysis of a 
homogeneous specimen of white crude iron. Many specimens, called white 
iron, in practice frequently contain a mixture of grey iron irregularly diffused 
through the mass; and, if not previously examined with a microscope, lead 
to erroneous conclusions. Such is the specimen No. 6 on this page. 


I 




























222 


No. 1 was a specimen of grey iron from the estab¬ 
lishment of Sayner near Coblentz. The ore was a 
brown haematite. 

No. 2, from Widderstein (Siegen) was a grey iron; 
produced from a mixture of sparry carbonate and 
brown haematite ores. 

No. 3, from Malapane in Upper Silesia; ore not 
known. All these were made with charcoal. 

Nos. 4 and 5 are from Konigshiitte in Silesia, 
produced with coke. They are denominated very 
grey iron; and with regard to No. 5, it is noted 
that the heat of the furnace was not kept up to the 
same degree, as in the production of No. 4. No. 6 
is from Lohe; and No. 7 was a specimen of white 
iron, in which a large proportion of combined carbon 
existed, but none unaltered. 

This last specimen, M. Karsten considers an ex¬ 
ample of car bo-saturation; inasmuch as exposed, 
during a long time, under sufficient heat, to contact 
with lamp-black, its weight was not found to be in¬ 
creased : and he announced it to consist of two atoms 
of iron, united to one atom of carbon. With the pre¬ 
sent system of equivalents, however, 5.3 per cent, of 
carbon would indicate four atoms of iron to one of 
carbon (Fe 4 C); and if we were to consider this as 
the atomic constitution of the percarburet, its pro¬ 
portions would be 

Iron: . . . 94.92 
Carbon: . . 5.08 


100 . 




223 


But M. Berthier has shewn that carbon will unite 
with iron in all ratios, as high as three atoms of the 

former to one of the latter (FeC 3 ); and the compo- 

\ 

sition of such a carburet will be, very nearly, 

Iron: . . . . 60. 

Carbon: . . . 40. 

loo. 

This compound (FeC 3 ) is undoubtedly of a phy¬ 
sical character quite different from that of crude 
iron; nevertheless in view of what has been said, and 
especially our want of knowledge of the influence 
exercised by the other elementary constituents over 
the mode of union of these two principals, it does 
not appear that we are warranted as yet in assigning 
any definite point of saturation. 

The latest examinations into the subject of the 
different combinations occurring in crude-iron, are 
those of Dr. Schafhaiitl of Munich; who in a paper 
communicated to the London and Edinburg Philo¬ 
sophical Magazine for December, 1839, advances to 
the following conclusions. 

1°. That graphite does not require for its forma¬ 
tion such high degrees of temperature, as had been 
supposed by M. Karsten. The latter metallurgist 
drew his conclusion, from the circumstance that grey 
iron (and still more in proportion very grey iron) is 
only produced, when the temperature of the furnace 
is highly elevated; although this is not fully borne 
out by the analysis No. 5, in the table on page 221, 





224 


r 


in which there is a notable increase of free car¬ 
bon, though the heat was less. Dr. Schafhautl be¬ 
lieves, he has established the generation of graphite 
at a temperature not exceeding 1500° Fahr. He 
does not controvert the general fact of grey iron 
being usually made when the furnace is working 
‘hot;’ but accounts for it, from the necessity of an 
extraordinary intensity of heat to effect the reduc¬ 
tion of a portion of aluminium , which he considers 
an ingredient of grey iron. 

2°. That graphite, as produced in blast-furnaces, 
is of two kinds; one containing a silicate, the other 
a carburet of iron. 

3°. That with these varieties, the base of both 
kinds is not entirely carbon, as had been determined 
by Bouesnel and Karsten, but properly a carburet of 
silicon ;—at least in its conditions of existence in the 
mass of crude iron. 

4°. Finally, that these views, resting upon careful 
chemical analysis, connect themselves with the gene¬ 
ral notion of the composition of crude iron, and give 
rise to a new set of elementary distinctions between 
its two classes; as illustrated in the following para¬ 


digm : 

GREY-IRON. 


Iron: . . ^ 

Silicon: . 
Aluminium: J 
Carbon: . 
Silicon: . 


Silicet and Alu- 
minet of Iron. 

Carburet of Sili¬ 
con. 


WHITE-IRON. 

Iron: . . ^ Carburet of iron, 

Carbon: . ^(Cyanuretof 

I 

Nitrogen: J iron?) 

Silicon: . ) Carburet of Sili- 

Carbon: . ) con. 




225 


The expression of these views, assuming that 
future analyses will confirm and verify those on 
which they rest, opens up without doubt a new and 
fertile field of inquiry and success; but it cannot be 
expected that all the inferences, contained in and 
flowing from the principal points which I have exhi¬ 
bited above, should be admitted at once as a sound 
inductive theory. It is to be regretted too, that from 
some cause the exposition, from which I have drawn 
the above conclusions, is not expressed with all that 
clearness which is necessary for its establishment, or 
even to do itself justice; but this may disappear or 
be remedied, hereafter. 

Some of the physico-mechanical effects of heat 
upon crude-iron have been already mentioned; the 
chemical changes are not less remarkable, though 
they cannot be so distinctly traced or accounted for. 
I shall here notice some of the principal of them. 

1°. Whenever grey iron, either of the first or 
second fusion, is cast in moulds or chills (and the 
same thing may be affirmed to a certain degree in 
the use of wet sand,) the texture of that part of the 
mass nearest the chilling surface, is found altered 
from what it was before ; instead of being granular it 
is now lamellated—it is in short white or high 72 iron. 

3* From the similarity in several particulars between steel of cementation 
and white iron, this term (high) which was originally applied to the degree 
of conversion of the former substance, has been taken to signify in crude iron, 
a grade of what we have hitherto called whiteness. 

29 


226 


And this change is produced in greater degree, the 
more sudden the cooling may be. If the grey iron 
be suffered to cool down from a state of fusion to a 
dull red heat, and be then suddenly cooled by im¬ 
mersion in water or otherwise, an analogous effect, 
though in a converse way, will be observed. The 
external portion (except a very minute filament or 
skin) will remain grey iron, having its usual color 
and crystalline structure; while the internal nucleus 
will be found converted into white iron. It may be 
supposed in this case, that the interior was yet in a 
state of fusion, while the exterior was at a red-heat; 
and that the crystallizing tendencies, which were 
allowed to operate on the outside particles, were 
defeated or disturbed on the inside. It may be 
stated then, generally, that sudden cooling promotes 
the conversion of grey iron into white . 

2°. And if white crude iron be exposed to intense 
heat during a second fusion, and then left to cool 
gradually and slowly, it is, as is well known, con¬ 
verted into grey iron; so that it may likewise be 
stated, that slow cooling is necessary for the forma¬ 
tion of grey iron from white. 

3°. It is not less so for preserving, during second 
fusion, that which was before grey. It therefore 
seems that the difference between the two kinds, so 
far as the effects of heat are a test, is in crystalline 
tendencies and action; and that they are, by the 
application of proper means,, reciprocally convertible 
into one another. 


227 


4°. There are some exceptions and peculiarities 
to be noticed, however, in regard to this last state¬ 
ment ; such for instance, as that some kinds of grey 
iron will not become white, by sudden cooling from 
the ordinary treatment of a cupola. 

This may be accounted for, if we assume that 
these are various ratios of combination between iron 
and carbon; and that of these polycarburets, some 
are more, and others less, fusible or alterable. It also 
will be admitted, that in many cases the play of elec¬ 
tive affinities is better promoted by time and constant 
influence, rather than by a momentary exhibition of 
an intense energy. Therefore for such iron, an air 
furnace would be better than a cupola—there being 
a longer time, and more uniform heat, and in fact a 
greater quantity of heat, in the former than in the 
latter; and so, a greater likelihood of the free carbon 
being fused and thus entering into combination with 
the iron. I do not know that any analysis has been 
made of metal presenting this peculiarity, so that 
we are without means to determine what share other 
associates besides carbon, may have in producing it. 

Another peculiarity in this regard, is that grey iron 
made with charcoal is more easily made white under 
sudden cooling, than similar iron produced with 
coke. This is supposed to arise from the greater 
fusibility of the product, (in which there is generally 
more free carbon) as well as from the ingredients 
themselves—whose crystalline affinities appear to be 




228 

different. No potassium has hitherto been found in 
either of the solid products of a furnace: and since 
the quantity which can be gathered (after a furnace 
has been blown out) on the tymp, does not account 
for all that went in among the materials, it has been 
found necessary to suppose that the remainder has 
been volatilized and passed off among the gases at the 
trundle-head. But from a miscroscopic examination 
of some specimens of charcoal-iron which possessed 
the peculiarity mentioned, it is by no means certain 
that a minute portion of this alkali may not unite 
itself with the iron, and thus communicate to it its 
different crystalline form. 

5°. I will only remark upon one other pheno¬ 
menon of crude iron subjected to high temperatures; 
which is, that while grey iron, heated in contact with 
air to a point just below fusion, becomes very little 
more malleable than before, (and indeed under cer¬ 
tain circumstances a high temperature seems to 
diminish its malleability,) white iron becomes very 
ductile. Again, heated without contact of air, grey 
iron remains crude and grey, according to the tem¬ 
perature it has sustained and its period of cooling; 
while white iron (though containing more carbon) 
assumes, under the same circumstances, a mechanical 
arrangement and qualities strongly resembling steel; 
in so much that it can be tempered, enough to take a 
sharp edge. It is supposed that these changes are 
not dissonant with the views before taken and here¬ 
after to be expressed, of its constitution. 


229 


The magnetic and electro-magnetic properties of 
iron, which are among at once the most curious and 
the most useful phenomena of its nature, have not 
jet been developed in all their extent; and as the 
experiments hitherto conducted have been princi¬ 
pally made upon bar iron and steel, the peculiarities 
in this respect of the different kinds of crude iron 
are not known, so as to subserve any useful purpose. 

What is known, however, may be summed up in 
the following particulars: 

1°. Grey iron is acted on by the needle, with 
more violence than white iron: but the magnetism 
impressed is not so permanent. 

• 2°. In this regards white iron presents a strong 
resemblance to tempered steel; which is slower to 
acquire magnetism than bar iron, yet preserves it 
undiminished longer. 

3°. Grey iron made white by sudden cooling, ex¬ 
hibits analogous phenomena to crude iron originally 
white: so, steel whose temper has been taken out by 
slow cooling, approaches in its magnetic characteris¬ 
tics to bar iron. 

4°. In bar iron of purity, no change of properties 
in regard to subsequent magnetic affection, appears 
to be induced by sudden cooling or otherwise. 

5°. The inference may be drawn from these obser¬ 
vations, that the mode of combination only, of carbon 
with the metallic iron, affects the permanence of in¬ 
duced magnetism ; and generally, in proportion to its 


230 


‘amount, that free carbon (like other impurities) 
injures magnetic permanence , though not necessarily 
magnetic intensity : and that this last particular is in 
inverse proportion to the quantities of carbon. 

Such are the empirical conclusions upon this sub¬ 
ject. In theory, both the intensity and permanence 
of magnetic currents appear to depend on the po¬ 
larity and crystalline form of the molecules of the 
mass. This is recognized in the difference of mag¬ 
netic effect between hard tempered and soft steel; 
as well as between steels tempered to different de¬ 
grees of hardness: the crystals of all of which pre¬ 
sent different shapes, induced by different degrees 
of temperature. There is no doubt, too, that the 
quantity of combined carbon also would affect this 
polarity. 

Mr. Scoresby has shewn, in a small tract recently 
published, 23 how by observation of angular deviations 
(and equally by the torsion-balance of Coulomb) a 
scale of temper may be established for all kinds of 
steels. I have, so far without success, endeavoured 
to apply a similar method to the establishment of a 
scale of combined carbon. Should it fail altogether of 
its ultimate object, it seems however quite applicable 
to determine, in the case of crude iron, the degree of 
temperature which existed in the furnace at the time 
of production—a point of importance, difficult to 
be ascertained in any other way. I shall take 


93 Magnetical Investigations ; Part I. London, 1839. 


231 


another occasion to lay before the furnace-masters 
the method which I pursue for this determination. 

Finally, abstraction being made of the impurities, 
the main differences of the two kinds of crude iron 
seem, in the present state of our knowledge, to be 
connected with the amount and mode of combination 
of the carbon with the metallic iron; and with the 
changes of polarization and crystalline form, to which 
this combination under various circumstances may 
give rise. We can trace these changes, from the cubic 
and granular aggregation of grey iron, up through 
the minute prisms of white iron of the second fusion, 

to the fascicular or stellated arrangement in white 

« 

iron of the first fusion. Mainly, they are to be attri¬ 
buted to the different degrees or variations of tempe¬ 
rature, which prevailed in the furnace at the time of 
fusion or production : but also, in some extent, to the 
presence of foreign substances, which tend to form; 
with iron and carbon alloys and multiple salts,—each 
having their own peculiar electric affinities, which 
they manifest according to circumstances by diffe¬ 
rences and peculiarities of cohesion and elasticity, 
capacity for heat, and the superinduction of magnet¬ 
ism : so that whoever wishes to consummate the 
inductive theory of Iron-Metallurgy, will have to- 
begin by a thorough study of the influence of the so> 
called imponderable agents, upon these several alloys 
and salts. 



232 


Sec. 4. Gaseous Materials and Products; accompanying the for¬ 
mation of Crude Iron . 

- It was stated on page 168, that in practice, with 
the coke furnaces in Wales, about nineteen tons of 
atmospheric air w^ere required for the production of 
one ton of crude iron. I propose to inquire briefly 
in this section, how far this approximate practical 
statement rests upon a principle of general application 
to the case of any combustible (raw coal, coke, char¬ 
coal, or torrefied wood) that may be employed for the 
same purpose, and also to indicate such peculiarities 
as are found to attend a modification of this supply, 
as regards either Quantity, Density, or Temperature. 
The considerations pertaining to the mechanical 
adaptations by which the supply is regulated or kept 
up, are too extensive to admit of a discussion here; 
therefore this part of the subject, although of great 
interest to the metallurgist, will not be mentioned, 
except when some important phenomena appear to 
be connected with a peculiarity of mechanical ar¬ 
rangement. 

I. The object of the supply of air at all, being 
entirely to produce a particular mediate effect, the 
quantity of effect desired to be produced, will, of 
course, become a measure of the quantity of air sup¬ 
plied. And this measure is ascertainable, by tracing 
carefully the immediate effects that attend the sup¬ 
ply. The first of these, is the maintenance of com- 


f 


233 


bustion; which could not be kept up, otherwise than 
by the consumption of the oxygen, one of the atmos¬ 
pheric elements: and another, the property which 
this element has of combining with the carbon in 
the coal during combustion, and after contributing 
to alter materially its physical state, carrying it off 
through the chimney of the furnace in the shape of 
a light gas. It is therefore, in fact, by the admission 
and subsequent decomposition of air, that three- 
fourths of the vast quantity of solid coal which is 
continually being put in the furnace, is got rid of in 
the easiest and most silent manner. An important 
modification of this last indicated property, is that the 
combination of the oxygen with the carbon takes 
place always in certain definite proportions; and we 
are, from this circumstance, furnished at once with 
the means of determining arithmetically the quantity 
of air to be furnished to a furnace, whose charges of 
combustible are known. 

Two proportions of combination between oxygen 
and carbon are at present recognized; one, forming 
carbonic acid , and the other, oxide of carbon . But 
as the first always takes place accompanied by the 
developement of more heat, and, without requiring 
more of the combustible, only demands more oxygen, 
it is the one which for economy’s sake should be 
always aimed at, and the supply of air therefore 
regulated accordingly. 

30 


234 


»• , - • •* 4 ' 

An easy rule can be given to find this supply: 
Take one-fifth of the weight in pounds of all the 
charges of the combustible {either charcoal or coke) 
during one turn of twelve hours; the quotient is the 
number of cubic feet of air, under the pressure of the 
atmosphere, to be furnished in one minute . 

Thus, in the case mentioned on page 124, the 
number of charges per turn was, on an average, 
thirty-five, weighing 500 pounds each: combining 
these numbers according to the rule, we then have 
35 X 500 X l = 3500 cubic feet per minute; the 
same as derived from the rate of the engine. 

By the same rule, the allowance for a charcoal 
furnace making 4 tons in the twenty-four hours, with 
the proportion of charcoal stated on page 180, would 
be 946 cubic feet per minute. 

This allowance is stated, as the quantity to be 
furnished . The quantity actually required to con¬ 
vert all the carbon into carbonic acid, 24 will be to 
the quantity furnished, as the weight of pure carbon 
in the combustible, is to the gross weight of said 

* 4 If we call P, the weight in pounds of pure carbon in the combustible ; 
O, the chemical equivalent of the atom of oxygen (hydrogen being 1); Oi the 
proportion per cent, of oxygen in the atmosphere ; C, the equivalent of car¬ 
bon ; w, the weight of a cubic foot of air at the mean temperature and density; 
and 720 the number of minutes in 12 hours; we shall have 

OP _ 0.275 OP „ „ 

3TOO, w ~ ~COivT ~ Q ■ the of air 

necessary, through an entire turn, to convert all the carbon into carbonic acid 




235 


combustible. For coke furnaces, the nett weight of 
carbon is about 75 per cent, of the coke charged; 
for charcoal, made indifferently from all kinds of 
wood, the same proportion is 90 per cent. 

Taking these average numbers, the consumption of 
air is given precisely, if we multiply the gross weight 
in pounds of the coke charged in twelve hours , by 
the number 0.157; or if charcoal, by the number 
0.188— for the number of cubic feet per minute. 

In the case of the coke furnace just mentioned, 
the consumption is found in this manner, to have 
been 2747 cubic feet, out of 3500 supplied; and for 
the charcoal furnace, 889 instead of 946 cubic feet. 

This excess is necessary, in order to provide for 

the discount which is to be made from the calculated 

* 

duty of the blowing machine, on account of waste at 
the tuyeres, leakage, loss of force from great length 
of pipe, from elbows, and from irregularities in the 
bore, etc. etc. The best executed cast-iron bellows 
will not actually furnish more than three-fourths of 
their theoretical supply; while in many, it will not be 
more than one-half. The excess would, in fact, have 
to be greater, were not a considerable quantity of 
oxygen furnished by the solid materials; which, sepa¬ 
rating, helps to support the combustion. Although 
therefore the preceding rules are applicable gene¬ 
rally without notable error, in order to be exact, it 
is desirable in every case to ascertain the constitu¬ 
tion (or at least the amount of oxygen) of all the 


236 


materials; without knowing which, a calculation 
might in some cases lead to erroneous conclusions 

We will now see how far the considerations here 
presented apply to an actual case; which has already 
furnished quantities for some of the preceding tables. 

It was supposed in the calculations for a furnace 
about to be built, that it would carry forty charges of 
500 pounds to a turn; and the approximative quan¬ 
tity of air thence deduced (according to a rule similar 
to the first preceding,) was required to be 4000 cubic 
feet per minute. The blowing cylinder (of cast-iron) 
had, with a diameter of 5 feet, a horizontal double¬ 
acting stroke of 8 feet; and running at the rate of 
13 revolutions (or 208 feet) per minute, furnished 
theoretically 4084 cubic feet in the same time. 
From observation, and comparison of its structure, 
and the arrangement of long and frequently bent 
pipes leading the air into the furnace, the productive 
effect of the machine was rated, as nearly as possible, 
at l of its above calculated result; and so, to supply 
2723 cubic feet per minute. 

The ratio of the weight of all the air supplied in 
one turn, at this rate of 2723 cubic feet per minute, 
to the weight of all the coal supplied during the 
same period, (allowance being made for the actual 
density of the air as supplied,) is expressed in the 
table (page 189) by the numbers 260 : 2000; and 
becomes, in this mode of expression, suitable for the 
calculation of the absolute chemical affinities, to 
which we have now progressed. 


237 


These 2000 parts of air contain, as shewn in the 
table, 460 parts of oxygen; while the total quantity 
of carbon, as derived from all sources, is 239.1 parts. 
To form carbonic acid, there is required to be pre¬ 
sent 2 2 parts of oxygen for every 1 of carbon; and 
it is therefore manifest, that except for the addition 
of oxygen from other quarters, there would not be 
enough to saturate all the carbon in the furnace. 
But this addition is always afforded. In the present 
case the total quantity of oxygen was 665.9 parts; 
of which, as shewn in the table of recomposition, 
(p. 191,) 59.8 parts went to the constitution of the 
cinder, leaving 606.1 parts to form carbonic acid 
with (239.1—2. 3) 236.8 parts of carbon. Even 
this, however, was not quite sufficient; and therefore, 
(as was also visible in the appearance of the flame at 
the trundle-head, consequent upon every fresh charge 
of combustible) a certain quantity of carbonic oxide 
was formed, of course to the disadvantage of the 
working. By applying well known methods of cal¬ 
culation, it was ascertained that for every 36.30 parts 
of carbonic acid by weight, there was also produced 
3.17 parts of the oxide of carbon; or, what amounts 
to the same thing, of the whole quantity of carbon- 
gas produced, 92 per cent, was carbonic acid, and 8 
per cent, oxide of carbon. 25 

25 Without an analysis, it could not, of course, be asserted that these were 
the constituent proportions of the gas. All that the calculation shews, is that 
the elements were in sufficient quantities to produce the compounds indi¬ 
cated : and that the existence of such quantities is in some degree connected 


238 


I hope I have now succeeded, in making plain the 
principles, upon which the quantity of air supplied^ 
affects the working of furnaces. The modifications 
arising from there being always formed, during 
combustion, some other products besides the two 
principal ones just mentioned, do not appear of suf¬ 
ficient extent to require being treated of here. 

II. In speaking of the proportionate weights of 
the combustible and the air, supplied in a given pe¬ 
riod, it was remarked that an allowance was made by 
the calculation for the actual density of the air; and 
this brings us to a consideration of that particular, 
which is also intimately allied with the preceding. 
Every one knows that in the mechanical arrange¬ 
ments about a furnace, there is always some part of 
the machine (generally the regulator,) in which the 
blast becomes, as it were, packed and condensed; and 
the measure of its condensation, is its ability to raise 
a weighted valve of a known area. This area is 
generally, with the American furnaces, expressed in 
square inches ; and the elastic force of the air is so 
many pounds per square inch. In Wales, they fre¬ 
quently apply a more convenient method—the mano¬ 
meter , or mercurial guage; by which the elastic force 
above the pressure of the atmosphere, is shewn in 

with the favorable working of the furnace, was shewn by the fact that an 
additional supply of oxygen, furnished by increasing the number of strokes 
in the blowing cylinder to fourteen per minute, produced a notable effect. I 
cannot undertake, in the limits of a note, to reconcile this well-observed fact 
with the result of some analyses that will be given hereafter. 


239 


inches of the tube containing the mercury, and is 
commonly expressed as a pillar of blast of so many 
inches. 

The condensation does not arise from the differ¬ 
ence between the supply and the discharge, or the 
excess of the former above the latter, so much as 
from the proportionate dimensions of the receiving 
and discharging pipes. After the regulator has been 
filled by a certain number of strokes of the bellows, 
all the air that is thrown in, has to pass out. But 
what comes in, enters by a pipe (it may be) sixteen 
inches in diameter, while it is carried into the furnace 
through a nozzle of three or four inches; so that, as 
equal volumes have to be led through both pipes at 
regular intervals, the air has first, to squeeze itself 
down to suit itself to the reduced aperture, and se¬ 
condly, to pass out with a quicker succession of par¬ 
ticles (or, in other words, to move faster) in order to 
avoid any extreme alteration of its natural state. The 
measure of the first of these expedients, is the den¬ 
sity,—that of the second, is the velocity of the air; 
and in the same apparatus, these bear a constant and 
reciprocal relation to one another, as well as to the 
quantity supplied. 

This will be apparent in the examination of the 
following table, which I prepared some time since, 
with great care, for another purpose; and whose 
practical accuracy is as much as the delicate causes 
nnd effects that had to be investigated, will allow. 


240 


Table shewing the Velocity and Quantity of discharge of Air from 
a Reservoir, subjected to various pressures. 


PRES 

Inches of 
mercury. 

SURE. 

Pounds per 
sq.inch. 

VELOCITY 

in feet 
per second. 

QUANTITY 
in cubic feet per 
minute: through 
a nozzle 1 inch 
diameter. 

WEIGHT 

in pounds 
per minute. 

0.06*25 

£ OZ. 

60.92 

18.54 

1.43 lb. 

0.125 

tV lb. 

86.07 

26.20 

2.02 

0.25 

i 

8 

121.47 

36.97 

2.86 

0.5 

i 

171.08 

52.07 

4.07 

0.75 

3 

208.67 

63.51 

5. 

1 . 

i 

y 

239.98 

73.04 

5.80 

1.25 

5 

s 

267.23 

81.33 

6.51 

1.5 

3 

T 

291.57 

88.74 

7.16 

1.75 

T 

If 

313.69 

95.47 

7.76 

2. 

1 lb. 

334.04 

101.66 

8.33 

.5 

4 

370.58 

112.78 

9.38 

3. 

H 

402.87 

122.61 

10.36 

.5 

if 

431.89 

131.44 

11.27 

4. 

2. 

458.30 

139.48 

12.14 

.5 


482.57 

146.86 

12.97 

5. 

21 

505.02 

153.70 

13.77 

.5 

2| 

525.92 

160.06 

14.55 

6. 

3. 

545.48 

166.01 

15.30 

.5 

4 

563.86 

171.61 

16.03 

7. 

3i 

581.18 

176.88 

16.75 

.5 

•3 i 

597.55 

181.86 

17.46 

8. 

4 

613.07 

186.58 

18.15 

.5 

4 i 

627.83 

191.07 

18.83 

9. 

41 

641.87 

195.35 

19.50 

.5 

4f 

655.27 

199.43 

20.17 

10. 

5. 

668.08 

203.32 

20.82 


The first column of this table contains the pressure, 
as indicated by the manometer before mentioned ; 
and according to which, the other quantities have 
been rigidly calculated. The second contains the 
corresponding indications in pounds and fractions per 
square inch; assuming 30 inches of the barometer to 
be equivalent to 15 pounds per square inch, as it is 














241 


very nearly. The captions to the other columns ex¬ 
plain themselves. It is further to be noted, that the 
calculations have been made to correspond to a uni¬ 
form temperature of 57° Fahr., which is about the 
average in Maryland, and to an atmospheric density 
of 30 inches of the barometer. If greater exactness is 
desired, so as to suit the actual stand of the barome¬ 
ter for any particular case, it can readily be deduced 
by interpolating the columns of quantities after the 
usual methods. The allowance to be made for a dif¬ 
ferent temperature from 57° Fahr., is not so easy of 
application, without a longer explanation than would 
be either fitting or necessary. 

Besides the connection in which this table is pre¬ 
sented, it may also apply to a practical purpose of 
some interest,—the determination (more accurately 
than in any other way, except a special and minute 
measurement and calculation for every individual 
case) of the quantity of air supplied to a furnace, 
deduced from data very easy of observation. For 
this purpose, the numbers in the fourth column are 
given, including all the allowances and discounts 
which, experiment has shewn, have to be made from 
the strict theoretical result: and to apply them in 
any case, in which the pressure in the regulator (or 
in the blast pipes, not far from the furnace,) and the 
diameter in inches of the nozzle to the tuyere-pipe 
are known, we have only to enter the second column 
for the given pressure in pounds , ranging with ivhich , 
31 


242 


in the fourth , is a quantity , that multiplied hy the 
square of the diameter of the nozzle in inches , gives 
the actual number of cubic feet blown per minute . 

Thus, suppose a case of a charcoal-furnace blown 
into, under a pressure of 1J pounds per square inch; 
through a nozzle of 2J inches in diameter; we have 
from the table, 112.78 X 2f X 2J = 571 cubic feet 
per minute. This is the quantity actually passed 
through the tuyere. Under the same pressure, 
a nozzle of 2 inches would only deliver 451 cubic 
feet per minute; and if it were required to know 
the pressure which would attend the discharge of 
571 cubic feet through this reduced aperture, we 
have 571 t 2 x 2 = 143.75, which number, being 
between 139-48 and 146.86 in the fourth column of 
the table, shews that the corresponding pressure will 
be between 2 and 2J pounds (or about 2& pounds) 
per square inch. 

Also, from this table may be found the diameter of 
the nozzle, which will deliver a certain number of 

cubic feet per minute, under a given pressure. So, 

* 

if the question be, what diameter of nozzle will keep 
up a pressure of 1 pound on a discharge of 800 cubic 
feet per minute, we have only to divide 800 by the 
number (101.66) standing in the fourth column, 
opposite the given pressure : the square root of the 
quotient, which is 2.8 inches, is the diameter. 

Other applications of the table will, doubtlessly, 
suggest themselves; but what have been mentioned, 
are of chief practical interest. 



243 


The primary object in furnishing this table, was to 
shew distinctly the effects produced by the density of 
the blast. These effects are of two kinds, mechanical 
and chemical. 

The first is illustrated in the third column; where 
it will be seen, in how much higher proportion the 
velocity increases than the pressure. Thus at 5 
pounds per square inch, the total density is about 33 
per cent, more than at § oz. per square inch; while 
the velocity of the former case is more than ten times 
of the latter. It will therefore be observed, what 
an important influence a small increase of density has 
upon the supply. 

A limit is, nevertheless, placed to the exertion of 
this influence ; in the first place, in the increased ma¬ 
chine-power required, and again, in the mechanical 
displacement of the cinder, which, together with the 
deterioration of the metal, would result from expo¬ 
sure to a blast of too great force. 26 The numbers in 
the column of pressure, do not exceed, however, 
actual cases. 

The chemical effect of increased density, is not less 
remarkable. By referring again to the table, it will 

be perceived, that the weights (given in the fifth 

* 

column) are not the product of a constant factor with 
the number of cubic feet corresponding. In fact, 

26 In order to extend this limit as far as possible, the mechanical arrange¬ 
ment is generally resorted to (in furnaces blown through two tuyeres) of set¬ 
ting the axes of the pipes in different vertical planes. 


244 


the temperature continuing the same, the weight of 
a cubic foot increases in a regular ratio with the 
pressure. Air of the ordinary atmospheric density 
(30 inches barom. 57°Fahr.) weighs very nearly 
0.0768 pound per cubic foot; under the additional 
pressure of 1 pounds the same volume weighs nearly 
0.0819 pound ; and with 2 pounds, it is raised to 
0.087 pound per cubic foot. 

Now the oxygen being mixed in the atmosphere 
by weight, and in a constant proportion that may be 
taken at 23 per cent., it follows that any increase in 
the weight of a given volume of air, increases also 
the weight and quantity of oxygen combined with it. 
Thus, recurring to the examples just now given, 
every 100 cubic feet of ordinary atmospheric air 
give 1.77 pounds of oxygen nearly: under a pres¬ 
sure of Volume in air. Weight of oxygen. 

1 lb. 100 c. feet give 1.88 lb. nearly. 

2 lbs. do. 2. lbs. 

3 lbs. do. 2.12 lbs. 

It is thus seen, that by increasing the density we 
in fact furnish a blast more rich in oxygen, support¬ 
ing combustion more readily, and generating a more 
intense degree of heat. For whatever end, then, 
this greater heat is desirable, it will be answered by 
increasing the density of the blast. 

Connected with this subject, is the discussion of 
the question alluded to in a former chapter, as to the 
relative effect and propriety of greater volume , or 


245 


greater density , of the blast for a high furnace; some 
founders in Wales preferring (especially of late) to 
enlarge the diameter of the tuyere-nozzles, and les¬ 
sen, or at least not increase, the pressure. In strict 
mathematical theory (as exemplified also in the table 
just given) these two quantities are reciprocal; and 
if it be only to throw in a certain weight of oxygen 
per minute, for keeping up the heat in the furnace, 
that end can be attained as precisely by supplying, 
for instance, 1061 cubic feet under a pressure of 1 
pound, as 100 cubic feet under a pressure of 2 
pounds: but I apprehend that, actually, a different 
chemical effect is exhibited in the two cases. Other 
things being equal, the oxygen will leave its mixture 
in a dense atmosphere more readily; a part of it will 
exercise its affinities towards other substances with 
more force, and a greater degree of heat be produced 
than by a blast more rare. 27 But as the object is not 

87 These principles are well recognized as regards combustibles; and it 
appears to me that they may without impropriety be extended, as I have done 
here, to a supporter of combustion. 

One argument, adduced to shew the advantage of using light pressure, was 
the supposition, that as the condensation of bodies is attended with an expul¬ 
sion of heat, and vice versa, the sudden expansion of the air when leaving the 
pipe, would absorb a quantity of heat otherwise effective. But the experi¬ 
ments of Gay-Lussac prove that this is not actually the case. 

I have used throughout these remarks the words density and rarity, to 
express the relative tendencies of the atmosphere to give up portions of its 
ingredients: but in fact, these tendencies are in proportion to the elasticity of 
the air, a property not always reciprocal with the density. This is illustrated 
in the use of hot-blast; whereby the elasticity and consequent aptitude of 
chemical affinity are increased, though the density, as is seen in practice, may 
be often diminished. 


246 


always to produce the highest possible temperature, 
but only that degree which suits the fusibility of the 
materials, the founder should regulate his workings 
in this regard entirely by the character of the mine- 
rals he is using. If they are easily melted, then a 
suitable quantity of air should be furnished under 
small pressure; if on the contrary they are refrac¬ 
tory, it is without doubt better to increase the pres¬ 
sure, rather than the volume. The wear of the 
engine, too, is less in this last case. 

On this subject of density, I purposely omit any 
discussion of the effect of the nitrogen of the atmos¬ 
phere; because up to this time its operation (except 
as an absorbent of heat disengaged by the combina¬ 
tion of the oxygen) is obscure, and any views that I 
might present would be purely speculative. 

III. The effects of increasing the temperature of 
the blast will be considered only under two heads; 
first, as they concern the working of the furnace, and 
secondly, as they affect the metal produced. There 
are, besides, other considerations of great interest, 
which are too extensive for our present limits. 

1. The working of the furnace seems to be affected 
by a heated blast, in the production of a higher tem¬ 
perature than attends the combustion of the same 
materials with cold air, in the consequent saving of 
fuel and air, and in an increased and sometimes dif¬ 
ferent energy of chemical action. 

The present state of science does not give us the 


247 


data upon which we can calculate, with accurate cer¬ 
tainty, the degree and amount of the two first parti¬ 
culars ; but it may, nevertheless; serve to fix our ideas 
on the subject, to present here some of the results of 
such a calculation, which can be then compared with 
existing practical statements. 

The union of oxygen with carbon to form car¬ 
bonic acid gas, is supposed to produce heat enough 
to raise 29.25 times its weight of water, from the 
freezing to the boiling point; i. e. 180° Fahr. Thus, 
1 lb. oxygen, with 0.375 lb. carbon, heats 29.25 lbs. 
water through 180°, and forms 1.375 lbs. carbonic 
acid. The whole quantity of heat produced then, is 

l 3 76 ~~~~ = 3829°. 1, which would be the tempe¬ 


rature of the carbonic acid, if its specific heat were 
the same as that of water. But this relation being 
in fact about 0.221 : 1 , it results that the temperature 
of the carbonic acid (if formed in an atmosphere of 

oxygen) will be = 17326°.2. The carbonic 

acid being formed, however, in an atmosphere con¬ 
sisting of 23 parts only of oxygen, while 77 are nitro¬ 
gen, the heat arising from the oxygen has to be dis¬ 
tributed likewise (in proportion to its specific heat) 
to the nitrogen. Now, allowance being made for the 
diminished specific gravity of this nitrogen, its spe¬ 
cific heat may be taken 1.6 times that of carbonic 

acid, and its quantity, 23 x 1 375 = ^-^5 times; so 

that from both these relations, it absorbs almost four 





248 


times as much as the carbonic acid; or what amounts 
to the same things of the whole number of degrees of 
heat produced by the combustion, four-fifths is ab¬ 
sorbed by the nitrogen, and only one-fifth, or 3465°, 
is sensible in the furnace. 

This quantity is the measure, then, of the actual 
heat in the furnace; at whatever temperature the 
materials may be thrown in, its degree bears some 
fractional relation to this number; and the saving of 
fuel may be represented by this fraction. Thus, if 
the air be heated to 572° Fahr., nearly one-seventh 
(~) of the entire heat of the furnace will be at 
once added, and there will be so much less necessity 
for the same amount of fuel as before. Also, the same 
fractional part will be set free from the nitrogen^ (the 
equilibrium of temperature existing without it) and 
we shall have four thirty-fifths of the heat econo¬ 
mized in this regard, and to be added to the one- 
seventh already established; thus making in all 
nearly one-fourth of the total heat, and it may be sup¬ 
posed, of the whole fuel necessary for the furnace. 28 

» 

The economy in the air may be approximated in 
the following manner: 

The specific heat of air being 0.2669, that of 

28 The weight of the air being so much more than that of all the other ma¬ 
terials together, I have considered in this calculation its effects when heated, 
only. Otherwise, if our data were more exact, it would be proper to take 
into account the relative specific heats of the other materials, and the influ¬ 
ence which their changes of state have on the general temperature. 



249 


water being 1., it takes the same quantity of heat for 
elevating to the same degree (say 572°F.) 3500 
cubic feet or 283.57 pounds of air, as for 75.69 
pounds of water. The elevation to 572°F. of this 
quantity of water, will be effected by the combination 
of 7.76 pounds of oxygen with the suitable quantity 
of carbon. Therefore, an increase of 540° in the 
temperature of 3500 cubic feet of air, corresponds 
to the effect of 7.76 pounds of oxygen, equivalent to 
33.75 pounds, or 416.6 cubic feet, of atmospheric 
air per minute. 

Such are the theoretical considerations founded, 
it must be admitted, upon not the most satisfactory 
data, that attach themselves to the economy of air 
and fuel. 

In practice, M. Dufrenoy states that a temperature 
of 612°F. at the Calder works in Scotland, reduced 
the quantity of blast necessary, from 3500 to 2627 
cubic feet per minute. This is nearly twice as much 
economy as resulted in the calculation just now made : 
but in that, was not taken into account the increased 
velocity of the blast on account of its temperature, 
and its of course actually increased quantity, though 
under the same apparent pressure. At some places, 
as in the Works just mentioned, they have found it 
advantageous to lessen the external pressure; at 
others, as at the Butterly works, they have aimed 
at the same object by enlarging the diameter of the 
tuyere-nozzle. 

32 


t* 


250 


The saving in combustible is also above the ratio 
assigned in our calculation, at least in coke-fur- 


naces. The 

following 

statement, 

collected 

from 

various sources, will 

have some 

interest 

in 

this 

regard : 






Locality. 

Proportion of combustible T Fahr . 

used for one ton of iron. r 

Raw Coal. 


Cold Air. Hot Air. 



Clyde: 

(Scotland) 

100. 

38.5 . 


612°. 

C alder: 

do. 

<< 

31.8 . 


612°. 

Coke. 






Clyde: 

do. 

(c 

64. 


450°. 

Monkland 

: do. 

it 

64.3 . 


450°. 

Birtly : 

(England) 

Cl 

61.4 . 


400°. 

Codnor Park : do. 

1C 

55. 


400°. 

Konigshiitte : (Silesia) 

(C 

88. 


380°. 

B utterly : 

(England) 

Cl 

50. 


360°. 

Wedriesbury: do. 

Cl 

49.6 . 


360°. 

Calder : 


ll 

64.3 . 


300°. 

Konigshiitte : (Silesia) 

Cl 

86. 


223°. 

Do. 

do. 

ll 

87. 


196°. 

Gleiwitz : 

do. 

Cl 

74. 


120°. 

Charcoal. 






Riouperou 

: (France) 

le 

78.9 . 


450°. 

Malapane 

: (Silesia) 

ci 

86. 


426°. 

Do. 

do. 

u 

75. 


290°. 


From this table it seems that the higher the tem¬ 
perature, the greater the economy of combustible. 
The extraordinary saving in the two first instances, 
arose from the circumstance of the coal (whose loss 
of weight had been great in coking) being applica¬ 
ble, at the temperature quoted, in its natural state. 
The average of all cited shews a saving of 34 per ' 
cent. 






251 


The limit of temperature appears to be more prac¬ 
tical than theoretical. In the latter regard, it is pos¬ 
sible that there may be a degree at which, when 
attained, the increased specific heat of the air and of 
the gases formed would absorb all the caloric that 
had been artificially impressed upon the blast, and 
its benefit come in this way to be neutralized. But 
I apprehend that the intrinsic difficulties in the appa¬ 
ratus, are sufficient to prevent this degree from being 
ever reached. Up to the point already attained, 
the advantages appear to be in proportion to the 
temperature; thus at the Calder works, with 300°, 
the saving of combustible was 35 per cent.,—when 
raised to 612°, the saving was rather more than 68 
per cent. The anomalies mentioned by M. Le Cha- 
telier 29 as signalized in the Silesian furnaces, and 
which are shewn in the table just given to be an 
economy inversely as the temperature, resolve them¬ 
selves, it appears to me, into the local peculiarities 
of the materials, not affecting the general principles 
which have been substantiated by numerous results 
elsewhere. There is no doubt that these local pe¬ 
culiarities affect in an important degree the propor¬ 
tionate result; and that at every establishment, there 
will be a temperature, not the highest, but suiting 
the constitution of the minerals, which allows of the 
maximum productiveness and economy. 

There appears to be no exception to the expe- 


59 Ann. de Mines : tom. xvi. p. 105. 


252 


rience that furnaces with hot-air are more easily 
kept in train, and their accidental derangements 
more readily corrected, than with cold air; and 
this may be referred to the last circumstance men¬ 
tioned, an increased chemical action. 

The process of this action is not to be explained 
with precision: but of its existence, both analogy 
and actual phenomena do not allow us to doubt. 
Thus, almost every substance in nature has its par¬ 
ticular temperature which determines its fusion; the 
habitudes of many substances as they enter into solu¬ 
tion, are even more remarkable; and not less so, as 
regards chemical action of all kinds, that an inconsi¬ 
derable quantity—a few degrees of heat, give rise to 
or entirely defeat the result. So it may also be with 
the fusible matters in the furnace. Besides, there 
are many symptoms, such as the peculiar brilliancy 
of the tuyere, the color of the flame of the trundle- 
head, the deficiency that takes place immediately 
in the heat of that part of the furnace upon increas¬ 
ing notably the temperature of the blast,—which 
point to a change in the direction and foci of the 
chemical forces that are at work. It is upon the 
manifestation of these and other changes produced 
by heated air, that the theories of Le Play and 
Bunsen (which in all probability will lead to results 
fortunate for metallurgy) in good measure repose. 

2. The effect upon the metal, produced by an- 
increased temperature of the air, is a point less 


253 


clearly defined than those of which we have been 
treating. As to the increase in quantity, there is no 
controversy; but the quality of hot-blast iron has 
been by many persons, suspected. I use this word 
purposely, because until very lately there had been 
collected no direct evidence on the matter; and such 
as is now in our possession cannot be considered 
as decisive, if even the subject plainly admitted of it. 
I propose to exhibit here, in as few words as pos¬ 
sible, the allowed views in this regard; and also to 

t 

point out a means of evidence which appears to be 
worthy of resort, but which has not yet been exem¬ 
plified in the present application. 

The quality of the metal produced under different 
temperatures, may be affected principally in two 
ways, chemical and mechanical. I shall consider 
then, separately, these two classes of affections. 30 

The analytic differences of the first class, M. Ber- 
thier states to be in the presence of less silicon and 
more carbon (at least in its free state, as graphite) 
with hot-blast iron than with cold. This latter par¬ 
ticular is presumed to make the metal more fit for 
foundry use; which last quality is recognized, in the 
admission of practical men, that hot-blast iron is 


jo Of course, it is assumed that the metal is produced under both methods 
of treatment from the same materials. Otherwise, in the use of forge and 
finery cinder, the application of the hot-blast presents some remarkable phe¬ 
nomena; which, however, it is not my purpose to consider. The small 
extent to which this material is applied in Maryland, and the disrepute into 
which its excessive and improper use has caused it to fall in Great Britain, 
justify the omission. 


254 


more tender than metal, otherwise of the same appa¬ 
rent quality, manufactured with cold air. 

If silicon maintains in crude iron the properties 
which it is supposed to impart to bar iron, viz: 
those of welding , the deficiency in this element may 
correspond with the assumed inferiority of tenacity. 
But the characteristics of the silicets of iron are not 
yet clearly defined. It is, however, admitted by M. 
Dufrenoy 31 that to apply crude iron from hot-blast 
to the preparation of bars, requires generally a modi¬ 
fication of materials. Nevertheless, in Maryland, 
where a great proportion of the bar iron is from 
hot-blast, even this admission need not be made. 

The synthetic differences of the same class, are 
seen in a greater liquidity of the hot-blast metal at 
the moment of reduction and flow, both in the first 
and second fusions. Also, the changes in cooling 
from grey iron to white, and vice versa, are supposed 
to have place wdth more facility, than in cold-blast. 
But hot-blast crude iron is much more rarely white, 
with the same materials. 32 

The differences of the second class are to be 
looked for in the proportionate tenacity and resis¬ 
tance of the metal, both crude and in bars, manufac¬ 
tured in the respective methods; and in their rela- 

31 Voyage Metallurg. tom. i. p. 496. 

33 With some materials and the use of hot-blast, I have understood that the 
whitening can be produced and regulated by inclining the blast-pipe down¬ 
wards, more or less. This phenomenon is similar in theory to the action of - 
the arrangement before mentioned, of tuyeres at different heights. 


255 


tive specific gravities. From a few observations, I 
am led to conclude that cold-blast iron is lighter than 
hot-blast; but my experiments have not been suffi¬ 
ciently extensive, to assert this universally. 

The indirect evidences of the former characteris¬ 
tic I shall not advert to, except to say that the cast¬ 
ings, (such as bridge-trusses, etc.), the rolled iron, 
and the machinery, made from one establishment 
(the Butterly works) using hot-air, are not less 
highly esteemed in England than similar products 
from any other establishment using cold air exclu¬ 
sively. The same remark will apply, with greater 
extent, to the production of iron in Maryland. 

The direct evidences consist in the trials which 
have been made, with the specific view of determin¬ 
ing the cohesion of the two kinds. Of these, the 
best authenticated are those of Fairbairn and Hodg- 
kinson; from whose extensive tabulated results 33 I 
have collected the data of the following statements: 

I. Table shewing the absolute and relative Cohesion in several speci¬ 
mens of Hot-Blast and Cold-Blast Iron , respectively. 


LOCALITY. 

ABSOLUTE COHESION, 
or resistance to being 
pulled asunder, 
in lbs. per sq. inch. 

RELATIVE COHESION, 
or resistance to being 
crushed, 

in lbs. per sq. inch. 


Hot-blast. 

Cold-blast. 

Hot-blast. 

Cold-blast. 

Carron No. 2: 
Carron No. 3: 
BufFery No. 1: 
Coed-talon No. 2: 

13505 lbs. 
17755 

13434 

16676 

16683 lbs. 
14200 
17466 
18855 

108540 lbs. 
133440 
86397 
82734 

106375 lbs. 
115442 
93385 
81770 

Mean: . . . 

15342.5 lbs. 

16801 lbs. 

102528 lbs. 

99243 lbs. 

Ratio: . . . 

913 : 

1000 and 1033 : 

1000 


33 British Association Reports: vol. vi. p. 337, etc. 




















256 


II. Table shewing the Ratio of respective Cohesion and of Stiffness 
in several specimens of Hot-Blast and Cold-Blast Iron. 


LOCALITY. 

TRANSVERSE 

STRENGTH. 

RESISTANCE 

TO IMPACT. 

STIFFNESS. 

Hot-blast. 

Cold-blast. 

Hot-blast. 

Cold-blast. 

Hot-blast. 

Cold-blast. 

Carron No. 2: 

991. 

1000. 

1005. 

1000. 

931. 

1000. 

Buffery No. 1: 

931. 

1000. 

963. 

1000. 

893. 

1000. 

Devon No. 3: 

1417. 

1000. 

2786. 

1000. 

981. 

1000. 

Mean ratio: 

1113. 

1000. 

1585. 

1000. 

935. 

1000. 


The results in this table, so favorable to the hot- 
blast, seeming in some degree dependant upon the 
anomalies (if it is not improper to give them such a 
name) observed in the several specimens of Devon 
No. 3, the experiments upon this resistance were 
continued and extended; so as to neutralize, by a 
wide average, the indications which are more pro¬ 
perly due to the materials themselves than to the 
method of treatment. I have condensed the report 
of these numerous and recent trials, into the follow¬ 
ing table. 

The pieces experimented on, were all 54 inches 
between the supports, and I inch square; the actual 
breaking weight, as well as the calculated cohesion, 
are shewn; but the flexure before fracture I have 
omitted, as not essential to our present purpose. 
Each set of experiments comprehended at least four 
different trials of the same specimen. 



























257 


III. Table shewing the Transverse strength of Hot-Blast and Cold- 

Blast Iron , respectively. 


COLD-BLAST. 

HOT-BLAST. 


Breaking 

weight. 

Cohesion 
per sq. inch. 


Breaking 

weight. 

Cohesion 
per sq. inch. 

Maximum obs’d: 
Minimum do. 
Mean of 18 sets ) 
of experim’ts: 3 

567 lbs. 
408 

460 

45927 lbs. 
33048 

37260 

Maximum obs’d: 
Minimum: 

Mean of 20 sets 
of experim’ts: 3 

537 lbs. 
378 

443 

43497 lbs. 
30618 

35883 


Ratio; (the cohesion of cold-blast being 1000) 1000 : 963. 


The conclusion seems warranted from these state¬ 
ments, that for all practical purposes, where the 
strains are transverse or crushing, the difference is 
too small to be regarded. When the stress is longi¬ 
tudinal, and the fibres pulled asunder, the ratio is 
unfavorable to the hot-blast. This may be attri¬ 
buted, I apprehend, to the peculiar crystallizations 
of the two kinds of metal, and to their different 
modes of being acted upon. The examination of 
these peculiarities and differences, constitutes the 
new species of evidence to which I just now alluded. 

Seen under a high magnifying power, the texture 
in several specimens of hot-blast iron appears to be 
composed entirely of cubes; w T hile cold-blast is fre¬ 
quently, though not universally, made up of octa¬ 
hedrons and derivative forms. If we suppose the 
attraction of cohesion in the mass, to be of the same 
kind with the polar forces that impress the crystal¬ 
line form, by analogy we may expect a greater deve- 
lopement of that attraction in the latter shape than 
the former. But the observations on this head have 
33 




















258 


not been sufficiently extensive to allow of an accu¬ 
rate generalization; and I content myself, therefore, 
with a mere indication of their principles, in order 
to induce the co-operation of other examiners. If 
there be any permanent general difference between 
the two kinds of metal, there is every probability 
that it will manifest itself to some extent in the tex¬ 
ture; and the reward for the trouble of these micro¬ 
scopic researches, be the establishment of a criterion 
of greater sureness and precision than we have be¬ 
fore possessed, whereby we may judge of the mecha¬ 
nical properties of a material of such varied and 
important application. 

\ 

A knowledge of the constitution of the gaseous 
products of the furnace (the last topic that we have 
to consider) is of great interest, as illustrating the 
agencies and modes of action among the materials, 
the different functions of various parts of the stack, 
and the best methods of applying these products 
themselves to some practical use. Unfortunately, 
not much attention has been paid to this subject; 
nor am I acquainted with any analysis in a case 
where the quantity, density, and temperature of the 
air, as well as the weight of the other materials 
simultaneously acted on, were in the proportions of 
which modern improvements have shewn them to be 
advantageously susceptible. To complete, however, 
the circle of analyses, which I have thought of inte- 



259 


rest to furnish in this Report, I present here two, by 
two different investigators. The first is from a 
charcoal furnace; the temperature of the blast being 
383°F. and the pressure a half pound per square 
inch. 34 



By volume. 

By weight. 

Aqueous vapor: . . 

. 0.117 . . 

. 7.37 

Carburetted hydrogen: 

. 0.036 . . 

. 2.03 

Carbonic oxide: . . 

. 0.156 . . 

. 15.31 

Carbonic acid: . . . 

. 0.125 . . 

. 19.32 

Nitrogen: .... 

. 0.566 . . 

. 55.97 


1. 

100. 


The other is likewise from a charcoal furnace, 
when the pressure was about f pound per square 
inch, and the temperature 412°F. The means 
employed in the analysis, were not such as to give 
the amount of aqueous vapor; but they furnish on 
the other hand the proportions of free hydrogen, 
instead of presenting it (as in the former) all under 
the head of hydro-carburet. In 100 parts by weight, 
M. Bunsen found : 35 


Hydrogen: . . . . 

. 0.25 

Carburetted hydrogen: 

. 1.79 

Carbonic oxide : . . 

. 25.81 

Carbonic acid: . . . 

. 16.57 

Nitrogen: .... 

. 55.58 


100. 


a* Ann. de3 Mines: tom. xvi. p. 569. 
33 Ann. des Mines: tom. xvi. p, 204. 










260 


The coincidence of these analyses in the propor¬ 
tions of nitrogen is exact enough ; but the differences 
in the ratios of the oxide and acid of carbon, are very 
marked. I do not find, in either, any thing to inva¬ 
lidate what was before said, as to the necessity of 
furnishing oxygen enough to allow of all the carbon 
combining with it as carbonic acid; though it does 
not follow, that such combination will be in totality 
made. 

So far as experiments have yet gone, it seems that 
the combination-modes of these two elements vary 
much in different parts of the furnace. Thus, in the 
case just given, the proportion of carbonic acid was 
17 per # nearly at the trundle-head, while at five feet 
below it was 3.5 per but at eight feet below it had 
mounted up to 7.6 per £. From these observations, 
M. Bunsen draws conclusions as to the functions of 
different stages of the furnace, according to the pre¬ 
valence of one or other element about each stage. 
The first, which he supposes to extend four or five 
feet below the trundle-head, is the preparatory stage; 
the materials are there dried,—great quantities of 
aqueous vapor and carbonic acid are there formed,— 
and things are put in a train for the second or induc¬ 
ing stage. This is characterized by the great pro¬ 
portion of oxide of carbon (from 25 to 33 per £), and 
extends to the lower part of the boshes; the iron 
begins to be reduced to the state of a magnetic 
oxide, but the heat is not intense enough to separate 


261 


it from the earthy silicates by bringing them to a 
state of fusion. The third is the separating stage; 
where the fused materials arrange themselves in the 
order of their weighty the iron below, the cinder 
above, and admit readily of removal to their respec¬ 
tive destinations. 

This theory, somewhat similar to that of M. Le 
Play, is, in part, a substantiation of the opinion of 
practical men, as to the office of the upper portion of 
the furnace; insomuch that it was once proposed 
(though I do not know if it was ever attempted to 
be executed) to erect a furnace of such a height in 
proportion to its diameter, as to allow all the mate¬ 
rials to be supplied in their natural state;—the roast¬ 
ing in short, and coking , were to be done in the 
furnace itself. 

As to the functions of the other stages, we have 
not yet sufficient data for their determination. 

I pass now from these speculative considerations, 
to the economical uses which the gases from the fur¬ 
nace, and the great amount of heat otherwise lost in 
them, may be made to subserve. 

1 °. They may be employed to heat the air which 
is blown into the furnace. This is an application 
very common throughout Maryland, and is found to 
answer a good purpose. Only it may be remarked, 
that there is, in every instance which I have seen, 
still a great loss of heat from the arrangements which 


262 


are used to convey the blast downwards to the 
tuyeres. It may, I think, be easily demonstrated, 
that the advantage gained by increased temperature 
would more than compensate for the interests upon 
improved air-conduits. 

These improvements would, however, only be 
applicable to charcoal furnaces. It would be hardly 
possible, except by disproportionately expensive pre¬ 
cautions, to retain the high temperature which is 
found most advantageous for coke furnaces; and 
accordingly, all trials of this kind which have been 
made for the latter, have proved unsuccessful, or at 
least have not realized their expected and habitual 
value. 

2°. Another application is to the carbonisation of 
the wood or coal, and to the roasting of the ores. 
The former of these uses is already becoming very 
general in Germany, and is being introduced into 
France. In Great Britain, avail has not yet been 
taken of it, because of the fortunate association of 
their iron-ores with the coals, and the great abun¬ 
dance of the latter; so that the cost of coking, as has 
already been shewn (p. 164) is not more than one- 
half of the cost in France. The roasting of the ore, 
too, is mainly done with coal that would be other¬ 
wise wasted. 

The arrangements for this object are not difficult 
to conceive or execute, and have already been made 
the object of special descriptions by several writers. 


263 

I shall, therefore, not pause to discuss them farther 
here. 

3°. Similar descriptions have been likewise given 
of another way of using the gases; namely, for rais¬ 
ing and sustaining the steam of the blast-engine. 
At Niederbronn on the Rhine, such an apparatus 
from a small furnace, (the boilers being placed on 
the stack) conducts the steam to the cylinder by a 
copper pipe 4 inches in diameter and 50 feet long, 
with a loss of tension of only 4 pounds;—the pres¬ 
sure in the boilers being 40 pounds per square inch. 
Sufficient heat, however, can be applied, to raise the 
pressure to 60 pounds per square inch. It is cal¬ 
culated that the engine, worked in this manner, (the 
diameter of the trundle-head is only 3 feet) exer¬ 
cises a force of 25 horses. 

So little heat is required for this object (according 
to M. Bunsen, only one-twelfth of that contained in 
and lost with the gas), that the supply and heating 
of the air, could be accomplished at the same time 
and with the same apparatus. 

4°. The last application that I shall mention, is to 
the re-melting of iron itself, in a reverberatory or 
other furnace. This, which at first to some philoso¬ 
phers seemed doubtful (although it has been already 
shewn in these pages that not more than one-fifth of 
the total heat was available for the fusion of the mate¬ 
rials) hasjike the preceding, been practically proved. 
So, at the furnace of Niederbronn, just mentioned, 


264 


they melted in a reverberatory furnace ; heated only 
by the gas brought down from the high furnace and 
carried a distance of more than 70 feet from the 
stack, 668 pounds of crude iron in one and a half 
hours. The fusion was perfect; and it moulded 
easily and well. I mention this case, in order that 
practical men may have a better idea of the amount 
of heat furnished by this agent. 

In regard to the quality ol the iron cast in this 
manner, no examination seems to have been yet 
made. 



\ 


APPENDIX. 




r 


34 


/ 














266 


Table shewing the Quantity of Pig and Bar-Iron imported from 
Maryland into Great Britain (Scotland not included) for the 
years undermentioned, from 1710 to 1755; referred to in page 
59 of the Report. 


DATE. 

PIG-IRON. 


BAR- 

IRON. 


REMARKS. 


T. 

O. 

Q. lbs. 


T. C. Q. lbs. 

The returns are from 

Up to Christmas, 1718 






3 7 0 0 

1710, but no im- 

1729 

S52 

16 

1 

11 





ports were made 

1730 

1526 

15 

1 

15 





till 1718. 

1731 

2081 

2 

0 

27 





Duty on Bar-iron per 

1732 

2226 

3 

2 

0 





ton, £2 Is. 6.15d. 

1733 

2309 

11 

3 

22 





sterling. 

1734 

2042 

2 

2 

3 





Duty on Pig-iron per 

1735 

2362 

8 

0 

17 


44 £ 

0 21 

ton: 3s. 9.45<i. ster- 

1739 

2242 

2 

2 

14 


• 

• 

• 

• 


ling. 

1740 

2020 

2 

0 

22 


5 0 0 0 

No printed returns 

1741 

3261 

S 

1 

5 


5 0 0 0 

appear to have 

1742 

1926 

3 

1 

5 

• 

• 

• • 

• • 

• • 


been made from 

1743 

2816 

1 

1 

15 

• 

• 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 


1719 to 1728 in- 

1744 

1748 

4 

1 

3 


57 0 

0 0 

elusive: nor for 

1745 

2130 

16 

1 

10 


4 5 

2 14 

1736 to 1738 in- 

1746 

1729 

1 

0 

2 

193 8 

3 12 

elusive. 

1747 

2119 

0 

3 

24 


82 11 

2 11 


* 1748 

2017 

11 

3 

10 


* * 

• • 

• • 



1749 

• 








No return. 

1750 

2508 

16 

1 

25 


5 17 

3 0 


1751 

2950 

5 

3 

15 


3 4 

2 9 

v- 

1752 

2762 

8 

0 

4 


16 10 

2 21 


1753 

2347 

9 

2 

18 


97 18 

0 19 


1754 

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4 

3 

17 

153 15 

1 S 



1755 

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1 

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3 0 



* i.. 

This table, as well as the following one, has been compiled from a more 
diffuse series, which forms part of an appendix to an interesting Memoir on 
the Iron trade by Mr. Scrivenor, now in process of publication in the London 
Mining Journal. From the w r ay in which the tables are there printed, it 
is not easy to separate Virginia from Maryland: therefore, in many cases 
(especially in pig-iron) the amount represents the joint export. 

The returns appear to have been at first made when called for by Parlia¬ 
ment to enlighten some exigency of legislation. Hence the occasional inter¬ 
vals which are signalized in the remarks. At least my authorities give me 
no other explanation. 































^67 


Table shewing the Quantity of Pig and Bar-Iron imported from 
Maryland into that part of Great Britain called Scotland , for 
the years undermentioned , from Michaelmas , 1739, to S. John 
Baptist , 1756; to accompany the preceding table. 


DATE. • 

PIG-IRON. 


T. C. Q. lbs. 

Michaelmas, 1742-3 

1 12 2 18 

1744-5 

27 14 3 0 

1748-9 

144 16 0 18 

S. John Bapt. 1750-1 

• • • • 

• • • • 

1752 

35 0 0 0 

1753 

20 0 0 0 

1754 

25 0 0 0 

1755 

• t • « 

• « • • 

1756 

« • • • 

• • • • 


BAR-IRON. 

REMARKS. 

T. 0. Q. lbs. 
1 16 3 18 

The returns are in fact 
from 1739, but no im¬ 
ports were made until 
the date mentioned. 

No imports for 1743-4; 
nor for 1746-8. 

Of the entire import from 
the colonies during these 
10 years (1739-49) Ma¬ 
ryland furnished nearly 
three-fourths. 

No returns from 29 Sep. 
1749, to 24 June, 1750. 

Of the entire quantity im¬ 
ported in these 6 years 
Maryland furnished ra¬ 
ther more than one-third. 


In the Documents from which this Table has been compiled, the different 
colonies are kept carefully distinct. 























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PLATES. 

, 4 



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PLATE I. 


Fig. 1, and 2, are a section and ground-plan of an ancient furnace, described 
by Agricola as in use in his time; in which they treated very fusible ores. 
h , is the hearth in both figures. 
b, the bellows, and 
t, the tuyere. 

These figures are from Hassenfratz. 

Fig. 3, and 4, are, in like manner, a section and ground-plan of a furnace 
described by Agricola; calculated for ores more refractory. 
h, is the hearth or crucible, in both figures. 
t , the tuyere in fig. 4. 

b, the place of the bellows, which were similar to those already given, 
n, the nozzle of the bellows. 

Both of these kinds were stuck-ofen, or fourneaux-a-masse. 

\ 

Fig. 5, and 6, shew an improvement, likewise in the time of Agricola; 
which was certainly the germ of the Jluss-ofen. 
h, is the crucible in both figures. 
t, the tuyere. 

b, the place of the bellows, w 7 hose nozzle is shewn, and which were of a 
larger and more powerful kind. 

I l, shew the steps for the convenience of charging, 
s, in fig. 6, shews the battered faces of the furnace. 

T, the aperture answering to the modern tymp-arch. 

/, an opening whereby the slag, and perhaps the iron, were discharged. 


The scales appended are arbitrary. 



PLATE / 
















































































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4 




























PLATE II. 


Fig. 1, is a drawing in peculiar perspective, (which may be denominated 
isomeric,) to shew some remarkable points in the furnace mentioned in p. 117. 
of the Report. It is supposed that .the drawing can be explained without 
letters. 

The inclination of the beds of the stones and the joints, on two sides of the 
furnace, are distinctly seen. Also, the rail-way for charging, is seen crossing 
the trundle-head. The cars used for this purpose, are shewn in Plate III. 

Fig. 2, is the simplest form of manometer, or mercurial guage, for ascer¬ 
taining the pressure of the air in the regulator or blast pipes. 

a b d, is a glass tube, bent as shewn, and containing mercury to any level 
mm. 

ck, is a cork, through which the tube passes, and which fits tightly the 
aperture that may be made for introducing the end a of the tube. 

s e, is the scale, which may be marked in inches and parts, or in \ pounds, 
at pleasure. The scale slides up and down the tube so as to 
allow the index, at e, to coincide with the actual level in the de¬ 
scending arm of the tube. 

The difference of level in the two arms is due to the pressure, at the rate of 
4 pound per inch, in height of the mercury in the ascending tube. 

Fig. 3, and 4, shew an apparatus, for ascertaining the temperature of the 
blast. 

p e, shews in fig. 3, a section of the upper part of the circumference of a 
blast pipe; and in fig. 4, a ground-view of the same pipe. 

f f, in both figures, is a circular flange-, with a collar or throat g g, in which 
a screw-thread has been tapped for receiving a corresponding neck, 
n n, through which passes, attached and air-tight, the bent ther¬ 
mometer, t t t, whose bulb, when in position, is thus inside of the 
blast pipe. 

At the end v of the scale, the thermometer may be supported with a piece 
of charcoal, or other non-conducting substance. 

The thermometer is graduated to 550° or 600°, for every 5° of Fahrenheit. 
Although the expansion of mercury at these high temperatures is not so 
equable as below 212°, it is yet the most unexceptionable indicating medium 
that can be employed. For the temperatures that will probably be found to 
suit best the materials and apparatus employed in the charcoal furnaces of 
Maryland, (from 200° to 300°,) it is sufficiently uniform. 

A more simple, and sometimes more convenient arrangement might be 
found in dispensing entirely with the flange and collars, and allowing the 
thermometer, with its neck, n n, (whose screw need not be more than 4 inch) 
to screw at once into the pipe, which would be tapped to suit its reception. 


•Scale of Inches 


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5 10 SO 30 F 

i—1—i i—i—i—■-1-1-1 

Original Seal© 


10 *o -to 60 80 F. 

1-1-1-1-1-I-1-1-1-1 

Isomeric Scale 




























































































































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PLATE III. 


Fig. 1, and 2, are a side and end elevation of the cars, used for charging at 
the furnace shewn in Plate II. 

abed, is the car-body of plate-iron fastened by iron straps to the truck, and 
having a conical bottom bee; to the apex of this cone is fastened 
the vertical stem e f, which is racked (fig. 2) at its upper extre¬ 
mity, and is susceptible of a motion upwards and downwards by 
means of the pinion g. The motion of the stem is guided by two 
bars, h h, whose ends are shewn in fig. 1, and the side of one in 
fig. 2. The pinion is fitted to a long axle, i k , and is worked by 
the winch, k l. The other parts do not need a particular descrip¬ 
tion. 

In the car from which this drawing was made, every part was of iron. As 
the kind used, angle-iron , is not common in America, l have altered some of 
the dimensions of the pieces of the bed, to suit a structure of wood. 

As soon as the winch turns, the stem fe descends, and the materials begin 
to slide off all around the conical bottom. The discharge is very rapid, and 
evenly distributed; and great benefit has been found to result from this method 
above the old one, where unavoidably a large part of every charge is heaped 
on one side of the stack. 

Fig. 3, and 4, are cars used at the same furnace, but principally for lime¬ 
stone. 

* a b c, in a side view, and c b b b c, an end elevation of the car body; which 
is in two parts, opening in the middle as shewn by the line b d on 
fig. 3 ,—e f and g h, are two flat bars fastened at one end, respec¬ 
tively, and at the other sliding through the staples iiii. The end 
h, of the upper bars is prolonged on both sides of the car as seen 
in fig. 3, and has a catch at k, in which fits a corresponding pro¬ 
jection in the arm mn. This projection can be released at any 
time by throwing up the arm, whose motion is on the pivot n. 

By this means the discharge is effected. When the car is over the trundle- 
head, the filler who pushes it by the bar mm, fig. 4, lifts that up; the catch 
at k is released; there is no longer any obstacle to the weight of the materials 
forcing asunder the body, which slides on the longitudinal joists of the bed, 
opening at b b b, and arrested, when it has sufficiently opened, by the cleets 
p p , respectively. 

The rails shewn on this plate are hollow, as mentioned in the text, and are 
kept from burning out by a stream of water which is passing through them, 
and is then conducted, all heated, to the steam engine. 





FLA TE Ill 






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Tig. J 


Fig. i 


Scale, of Feet 


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